
COFiORIGHT DEPCSIH 



I 



I 




Wl & R.CH AMBERS — LI M ITEB 

LONDON C* EDINBURGH 

THE BRADLEY-GARRETSON G0.~ LIMITED 



PHI LAHELPH1A DETROIT fc 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
Photogravure from a steel engraving by C. Burt 



L.liRARYof OONGRESS 
fwu Oopies deceived 

APR 19 »»05 

Jouangnt tniry 

oudSS ^ AXc. Not 

J" V^^7 
OOP? u. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Year One Thousand Nine 
Hundred and Three, by The Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of 
the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Year One 
Thousand Mne Hundred and Three, by The Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, 
in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 



.1// /lights Reserved. 



PREFACE. 



In attempting to write the story of the lives of 
the presidents of the latter half of the nineteenth 
century, several difficulties have to be faced. In 
the first place it is almost impossible to get trust- 
worthy material. The lives of these great public 
men have been written by friends, often for party 
purposes, when their faults have been concealed and 
their mistakes made to appear as fine qualities. 
Time, the greatest of all critics, has not yet had the 
opportunity of sifting the wheat from the chaff in 
their lives. 

It has been my aim in this book as far as possible 
to let the presidents speak for themselves. Where I 
could I have quoted freely from their letters and 
speeches, and from the utterances of their immediate 
friends. In each case considerable space has been 
given to the early life of the subject under discus- 
sion. It must be an inspiration to a nation such as 
the United States, as it considers the men it has 
raised to sit in authority at "Washington to guide its 
destinies, to know that the majority of these men 
have risen from the very humblest origin. It only 
needs the study of the lives of the presidents to see 
that the child of the most obscure citizen of the 



PREFACE. 



Union has a chance of reaching the most exalted 
office in the gift of his country. 

It is fitting at the beginning of the new century 
to take stock of the one that has just passed away, and 
there is no better way in which a country can sum 
up its achievements than by closely following the 
lives of its kings, or emperors, or presidents. 

In this volume the incidents of the private lives 
of the Presidents of the United States and their pub- 
lic acts have been mainly dealt with. There has 
been no attempt at an exhaustive discussion of any 
of the great questions that mark the progress of the 
United States in the century, — that work will be 
found ably done in Volume V. of this series. Again 
only the points in the great Civil war and the Span- 
ish-American war absolutely necessary for bringing 
out the character of the president concerned are dealt 
with. The task of describing these momentous strug- 
gles has been left to the brilliant pen of Mr. Oscar 
Browning, Professor of History in Cambridge Uni- 
versity, who has contributed Volume XVII., Wars 
in the Nineteenth Century, to this series. 

T. GK Maequis. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Carlyle and Green True Historians. — To Know History 
Necessary to Know the Makers of History. — Two Great 
Periods in the History of United States. — First Great 
Period Closes with Defeat of Whig Party. — The Rise of 
the Republican Party. — Marvellous Progress of United 
States in Last Fifty Years. — The Importance of the Pres- 
idents in This Progress. — Civil War a Clearing of Polit- 
ical Air. — Great Periods of National Growth Ushered 
in by War. — Problems of American History Interwoven 
with the Lives of the Presidents. — Franklin Pierce an 
Example of This. — Abraham Lincoln Representative of 
Spirit of the North. — Democracy Embodied in Grover 
Cleveland. — President McKinley Characteristic of the 
Nation at Close of Century. — The Marvels Wrought by 
Machinery. — The Age in the Light of its Great Men. . , . 

CHAPTER II. 

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN PIERCE. 

(One Administration, 1853-1857.) 

Strong Men in the United States at Middle of Century.— 
Civil Strife in the Distance. — An Able and Large- 
Hearted President Needed.— Franklin Pierce a Man of 
Integrity and Noble Character,— His Father a Veteran 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



of the Revolutionary War. — Settles on New Hampshire 
Grants.— His Son Franklin, Born "November 22, 1804.— 
Father Prominent in New Hampshire. — Sent to the 
Legislature. — Appointed Sheriff of the County. — A 
Brigadier-General of the New Hampshire Militia.— 
Franklin at School and at College. — Not a Diligent 
Student. — His Companions Longfellow and Hawthorne. 
— Teaches School. — Captain of a Military Company at 
Bowdoin College. — Begins the Study of Law. — Fails in 
His First Case. — A Successful Stump Orator. — Elected 
to the New Hampshire Legislature. — Speaker of the 
House. — Elected to Congress at the Age of Twenty- 
Nine. — A Strong Supporter of President Jackson. — 
Speaks Against the Abolition of Slavery in the District 
of Columbia. — Opposed to Military Academy at West 
Point. — Described by His Fellow-Senator, James Bu- 
chanan. — Dreaded the Influence of the Extreme Aboli- 
tionists. — His Strange Attitude on the Right of Petition. 
— Leaves Washington on Account of His Wife's Health. 
— Still Interested in Politics. — The Mexican War. — 
Franklin Pierce Enlists as a Private. — Given a Colonel's 
Commission. — At the Seat of War. — Wounded in Battle. 
— G-eneral Grant's Opinion of Him as a Soldier. — Be- 
lieves Himself Fighting in a Just Cause. — Honored by 
New Hampshire on Return from Mexico. — His Name 
Mentioned for President. — The Democratic Convention 
at Baltimore, June 1, 1852. — Chosen by the Convention 
for President. — Frederick Bancroft's Reasons for This 
Choice. — Scott Selected by the Whig Party. — Passing 
of Daniel Webster. — Elected President. — James Bu- 
chanan's Eulogy of Franklin Pierce 9 

CHAPTER III. 

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN PIERCE (CONCLUDED) . 

Franklin Pierce Makes Preparations to Go to Washing- 
ton. — The Tragic Death of his Son. — His Inauguration. 
—Opposes the Abolitionists. — A Consistent President. 



CONTENTS. 



— Appoints his Cabinet. — His Sympathies Decidedly 
with the South. — Stephen A. Douglas on the Scene. — 
Introduces the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. — The President 
Signs this Bill. — The Struggle in Kansas. — Pro-Slavery 
Leaders Look on Pierce as Their Friend. — Stephen A. 
Douglas Speaks on the Kansas Situation- — Mr. Cramp- 
ton and the United States.— The Clayton-Buhver Treaty 
in Evidence. — War Threatening with Britain. — Trouble 
with Spain over Cuba. — The Ostend Letter. — A Re- 
ciprocity Treaty with Canada Signed. — Franklin Pierce 
Takes his Stand in all Matters on the Constitution. — 
Democratic Convention meets at Cincinnati. June, 1856. 
— Buchanan Declared the Nominee of the Democrats. — 
Pierce Retires to his Concord Home. — When Secession 
Begins Stands with the Union and the North. — His 
Death, October 8, 1869 32 

CHAPTER IV. 

PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN. 

(One Administration 1857-1861.) 

President Buchanan in many Ways Like President 
Pierce. — Of Scotch-Irish Descent. — His Account of his 
Parents and their Life in America. — Given a Good 
Education. — Graduates from Dickinson College in 1809. 
— Enters on the Study of Law. — A Pronounced Feder- 
alist. — Opposed to the War of 1812. — Serves in the Ranks 
in 1814. — Elected to the House of Representatives of 
Pennsylvania. — A Romance Clouds his Life. — Elected to 
Congress. — Succeeds John Randolph as Minister to 
Russia. — On his Return Elected by State Legislature to 
Senate — A Strong Supporter of President Jackson. — Con- 
siders the Abolitionists " Desperate Fanatics." — On Elec- 
tion of President Taylor Retires to M Wheatlands." — In 
1853 Appointed Minister to England by President Pierce. 
— Discussion as to How an American Minister should 
Appear at Court. — Proves himself an Able Minister. — 
An Enthusiastic Welcome on His Return to America... 48 



X 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN (CONCLUDED ) . 

PAGE 

The National Democratic Convention Meets in Cincinnati 
in 1856. — Buchanan, Pierce, Douglas and Cass in the 
Field for President. — Buchanan Nominee of the Party. — 
Millard Fillmore Nominee of the Whig Party. — John C. 
Fremont Nominee of the People's Party. — Buchanan 
Elected President. — Platform of the Democratic Party. 
— President Buchanan's Inaugural Address. — Indigna- 
tion Growing against Slavery. — Buchanan Selects his 
Cabinet. — The Dred Scott Case. — Buchanan Recognizes 
" Mob-elected " Legislature of Kansas. — The New Haven 
Memorial. — President Buchanan Replies to Memorial. — 
Takes His Stand on the Letter of the Constitution. — 
Proves Himself Able in International Affairs. — Bu- 
chanan Denies England's Right to Search American Ves- 
sels Supposed to be Slavers. — Handles all other Foreign 
Questions with Ability. — Unable to Check Corruption 
in Public Affairs. — The Covode Committee. — The Storm- 
Cloud Growing Blacker in Kansas. — Abraham Lincoln 
on the Scene. — The North Rallies about Him. — The Pro- 
Slavery Party Divided. — The Southern States Threaten 
Secession. — Buchanan a Weakling at this Crisis. — His 
Whole Prejudices with the South. — Plays into the 
Hands of His Southern Friends— The Rebel Flag Float- 
ing over Charleston. — Confederate Government meets 
under Presidency of Jefferson Davis. — President Bu- 
chanan Gladly lays down Office. — Contrasted with Abra- 
ham Lincoln. — Death of Buchanan June 1, 1868 61 

CHAPTER VI. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

(Two Administrations 1861-1865, 1865-) 

A Strong Man Needed to Grapple with Slavery. — Abraham 
Lincoln One of the World's Truly Great Men.— Of 
Virginian Stock. — His Ancestors Settle In Kentucky. — 



CONTENTS. 



xi 



His Father Marries Nancy Hanks.— The Family Move to 
Indiana. — Rude Life in the Wilderness. — The Death of 
Nancy Hanks. — His Father Marries Sarah Bush. — Lin- 
coln's Early Education. — The Bare-Foot Lad at Work 
in the Fields. — The Yearnings of an Ambitious Heart. 
— The Lincoln Family Move to Illinois. — A Trip to New- 
Orleans. — Horrified by Slavery. — River-Pilot and Busi- 
ness-Manager. — In the Black Hawk War. — A Pro- 
nounced Whig. — His Odd Appearance on the Political 
Platform. — Conducts a General Store. — Begins the 
Study of Law. — Elected to the Legislature. — In Love 
with Anne Rutledge. — Her Death and Lincoln's Melan- 
choly. — " A Man with a heart Full of Kindness and a 
Head Full of Sense." 79 

CHAPTER VII. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CONTINUED). 

Lincoln's First Session in the Legislature. — Recognized as 
an Able " Log-Roller/' — Re-Elected to the Legislature. 
— The Ambitious Schemes of the "Long Nine." — The 
Seat of Government Moved from Vandalia to Spring- 
field. — Lincoln's Resolution on the Slavery Question. — 
Licensed to Practise Law. — Stephen A. Douglas Be- 
comes Lincoln's Great Rival. — Lincoln Dislikes the 
Drudgery of Law. — Nominated for Speaker in the Legis- 
lature. — An Elector on the Harrison Ticket for Pres- 
ident. — Mary Todd Enters Lincoln's Life. — Married to 
Mary Todd. — Elected to Congress. — His Speech on Be- 
half of General Taylor. — " Lone Star of Illinois." — The 
Boston Advertisers Estimation of Lincoln. — Beginning 
to See Need of Grappling with Slavery Question. — Of- 
fered the Governorship of the Territory of Oregon. — His 
Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill against Douglas. 
— His Challenge to Douglas. — Kills Douglas's Chances 
for the Presidency. — Extract from his Speech at Free- 
port. — Recognized as one of the Great Anti-Slavery 
Leaders. — Brilliant Speeches in the New England States. 92 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CONTINUED). 

PAGE 

The Republican Convention of I860.—" Honest Old Abe" 
Nominated on the Third Ballot. — Northern Democrats 
Nominate Stephen A. Douglas, the Southern John C. 
Breckinridge. — John Bell Nominated by Constitutional 
Union Party. — Lincoln Elected President. — The 
Southern States Secede. — Lincoln Tormented by Office 
Seekers. — His Farewell to his Springfield Friends. — A 
Plot to Assassinate Him at Baltimore. — The Inaugura- 
tion Ceremonies. — His Inaugural Address. — Seward 
and Lincoln. — Lincoln Forms his Cabinet. — Fort Sumter 
Threatened. — Lincoln Calls for 75,000 men. — Relative 
Strength of the North and South. — Stephen A. 
Douglas Stands by the Union. — Opening Months of the 
War. — Disastrous Battle of Bull Run. — General George 
B. McClellan in Command. — Grant, " a Sledge Hammer 
of War," Gains Victories on the Mississippi. — The Seiz- 
ing of Mason and Slidell almost Precipitates War with 
England. — France takes Advantage of War to Assert 
Herself in Mexico. — Lincoln's Admiration for Grant. — 
The Struggle at Sea between North and South. — Lin- 
coln's Paramount Desire to Save the Union. — Makes 
Enemies among the Abolitionists. — Preliminary Pro- 
clamation Freeing the Slaves.— Louis Napoleon's offer 
to Mediate between North and South Refused by Lin- 
coln. — Lincoln's Famous Gettysburg Speech. — Grant's 
Continued Successes. — Appointed General-in-Chief 107 

CHAPTER IX. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CONCLUDED). 

The Battles in " the Wilderness." — Lincoln Renominated 
by the Republicans for President. — His Opponent 
General George B. McClellan. — Lincoln Re-elected 
President. — The South Begins to Weaken. — Efforts to 
Bring About Peace.— The Conference at Hampton 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



Roads. — Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. — The 
War Nearing its End. — Lee Surrenders at Appomattox 
Court House. — Lincoln's Last Great Speech. — The Cost 
of the War. — Lee's Farewell to his Army. — The Charac- 
ter of Lee. — A Plot to Assassinate the Republican 
Leaders. — The Attempt on Seward's Life. — The Assas- 
sination of Lincoln in Ford's Theatre. — A Cruel Blow to 
the South.— The North Stricken with Grief.— Walt 
Whitman's Tribute to the Great Statesman. — Beecher's 
Noble Words. — Lincoln's Place in the Hearts of the 
American People 129 

CHAPTER X. 

PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON. 

(One Administration 1865-1869.) 

Andrew Johnson Raised to the Presidency. — Like Lincoln 
of Poor Parentage. — His Illiterate Earlier Years. — A 
Tailor by Trade.— Self-Educated.— Marries Eliza Mc- 
Cardle. — Takes an Active Interest in Politics. — Elected 
to the State Legislature. — A Presidential Elector on the 
Democratic Ticket. — Sent to the State Senate. — Elected 
to Congress. — An Advocate of the Annexation of Texas. 
— Governor of Tennessee. — Elected to the United States 
Senate. — A Southerner, but Opposed to the South on 
Slavery Question. — Speaks for the Union. — Wins the 
Hatred of the South. — His Property Destroyed by His 
Enemies. — Appointed Military Governor of Tennessee. 
— His Able Administration Wins Admiration of Lincoln. 
— Nominated for the Vice-Presidency in 1864.— Speaks 
with Energy against the Secessionists. — Sworn in as 
President. — His Inaugural Address. — The Work of Re- 
constructing the South Begins — Office of President too 
Much for Johnson. — Struggle between Congress and the 
President. — The Tenure of Office Bill. — Suspends Secre- 
tary of War Stanton. — " Swinging Round the Circle." 
— Effort to Impeach him in Congress. — His Uu dignified 
Speeches against Congress.— Narrowly escapes Impeach- 



CONTENTS. 



ment. — Loses the Respect of the Nation. — His Death 
July 30, 1875 149 

CHAPTER XI. 

PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

! 

(Two Administrations, 1869-1873, 1877.) 

Grant One of the Greatest Soldiers in History. — His 
Family among the Oldest in America. — Of Puritan An- 
cestry. — Mathew Grant Arrives at Boston on the " Mary 
and John." — General Grant in Many Ways like Crom- 
well. — His Grandfather a Veteran of the Revolution. — 
His Father, Jesse Grant, Born in Pennsylvania. — Jesse 
Grant moves to Ohio. — Hiram Ulysses Grant born at 
Point Pleasant. — How he Became Known as Ulysses S. 
Grant. — His Early Education. — A Boy Accustomed to 
Toil. — Appointed a Cadet at West Point. — His Letters 
Home. — A Careless Student. — An Expert Horseman. — 
His Course Far from a Brilliant One. — A Lieutenant in 
the 4th United States Infantry. — A Man whom but Few 
would Suspect of Possible Greatness 177 

CHAPTER XII. 

PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT (CONTINUED). 

Stationed at Jefferson Barracks. — Applies for a Teacher- 
ship in Mathematics at West Point. — In Love with Julia 
Dent. — War Threatening with Mexico. — Conflict be- 
tween Taylor's " Army of Occupation " and the Mexi- 
cans. — Grant's Regiment sent to Texas. — Lieutenant 
Grant does Gallant Service. — A Daring Ride. — Not in 
Sympathy with Mexican War. — Married on His Return 
from War. — Stationed at Detroit, at Sackett's Harbor, 
and on the Pacific Coast. — Leaves the Army in Disgust. 
— Settles on a Small and Poor Farm near St. Louis. — A 
Struggle for Existence. — A Clerk in Galena. — The Civil 
War Rouses his Military Ardor. — Given Command of a 
Regiment—Proves himself a Fine Organizer.— Raised 



CONTENTS. 



xv 



to the Rank of Brigadier-General. — His First Military 
Success at Paducah. — His Narrow Escape at Belmont. 
— Captures Fort Henry. — La} r s Siege to Fort Donelson. — 
Captures Fort after Brilliant Fighting. — His Victories 
Electrify the North.— Grant Under a Cloud.— The Con- 
federates Hope to Crush Grant's Array. — The Battle of 
Shiloh. — Grant's Description of the Field of Battle. — 
Shiloh a Magnificent Victory for the North. — General 
Halleck's Incomprehensible Treatment of Grant. — The 
Delay before Corinth. — Grant Requests Leave of Ab- 
sence. — Induced by Sherman to Remain on the Scene 
of Conflict. — Military Administrator at Memphis. — 
Wins a Victory over the Confederates at Corinth. — 
Plans to Capture Vicksburg.— A Protracted Siege. — The 
Surrender of Vicksburg. — His Plans once more Thwarted 
by Halleck. — Severely Injured at New Orleans. — 
Ordered to Report at Cairo. — Wins a Great Victory at 
Chattanooga. — His Congratulations to his Soldiers. — 
Honoured for his Victory. — Grant Raised to the Rank of 
Lieutenant-General. — Appointed to the Command of all 
the Union Armies. — Faces the Forces of Robert E. Lee. 
— Lincoln Absolutely Confides in Grant. — The Battles in 
the "Wilderness." — Meets with Reverses at Cold Har- 
bour. — Lays Siege to Petersburg. — Lee Unable to Hold 
out Longer. — Grant Demands Surrender of Army of 
Confederate States. — Lee Flees from Richmond. — Sur- 
renders to Grant at Appomattox. — Grant's Description 
of Lee. — His Noble Treatment of His Vanquished Foe. — 
Grant Proceeds to Washington. — Looks upon the Death 
of Lincoln as a Calamity for the South. — The Grand 
Review of the Troops in Washington at Close of War. — 
Grant's Farewell Address to his Soldiers 188 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT (CONCLUDED). 

The United States Government Turns its Attention to 
Mexican Matters. — The French Army Withdraws from 



xvi 



CONTENTS. 



Mexico.— Lee and Othes Indicted for Rebellion.— Grant 
Differs with President Johnson as to Treatment of Con- 
federate Leaders. — At Close of War Gifts and Honours 
Showered upon Grant. — Grant Visits the South. — Ap- 
pointed General of the Army of the United States. — 
Appointed Secretary Ad Interim. — Grant stands by 
Sheridan in Opposition to the President. — The People 
Consider Grant for the Presidency. — Nominated by the 
Republican Convention in May, 18G8. — His Words on 
Accepting the Nomination. — His One Desire Peace. — 
Elected President. — Favours the Annexation of Santo 
Domingo. — Reconstructing the South. — The Difficulties 
with Britain Settled. — Much Official Corruption during 
his Presidency. — Re-nominated for a Second Term.— A 
Bitter Campaign. — Elected President by a Large Ma- 
jority. — The Men who Served in his Cabinets. — His 
Second Inaugural Address. — War Threatening with 
Spain over Cuba. — Vetoes the " Inflation Bill. — The 
Whiskey-Ring Frauds. — His Opinions on Education. — 
Rutherford B. Hays' Inaugural Address. — Grant's Great 
Journey round the World. — Urged to Stand for a Third 
Term. — General Garfield Receives the Nomination. — 
Grant Financially Ruined. — The Writing of his Memoirs. 
— His Heroic Death. — President Cleveland's Words in 
his Praise 228 • 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

(One Administration 1877-1881). 

Rutherford B. Hayes Born in 1822.— His Father a Well-to- 
do Merchant from Brattleboro, Vermont. — The Hayes 
Famity move to Ohio. — Settle in Delaware, Where 
Rutherford was Born. — As a Child his Life was Despaired 
of. — A Model Boy. — Studies at Kenyon College. — Be- 
gins the Study of Law. — In the Law School of Harvard 
University. — Admitted to the Bar, March, 1845. — Mar- 
ries Miss Lucy M. Webb.— In Early Life a Whig.— Joins 



CONTENTS. 



xvii 



the Repuolican Party.— In Civil War Stands by the 
North. — Opposed to Compromise with the Secessionists. 
— Determines to Enlist. ^-Appointed Major of the 23d 
Regiment. — Operates in Virginia. — At the Battle of 
South Mountain. — Major Hayes Wounded. — On Recov- 
ery Detailed to act as Brigadier-General of Kanawha 
Division.— Materially Aids in Capture of John Morgan. 
— His Heroic Work at Cloyd Mountain. — At Fisher's 
Hill and Cedar Creek. — In the Battle of Winchester. — 
Sheridan's Famous Ride. — General Crook congratulates 
Hayes on Battlefield. — General Grant praises his Work. 249 

CHAPTER XV. 

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (CONTINUED). 

The Republicans Nominate Hayes for Congress in 18Q4.- 1 - 
Refuses to leave the Field to Stump his Constituency. 
— His Soldiers' Estimate of Him. — An Energetic Worker 
in House of Representatives. — His Attitude towards 
the South after the War.— Severely Criticises President 
Johnson's Re-construction Plan. — Votes for the Im- 
peachment of President Johnson. — Calls Johnson "the 
Traitor who Fills the White House." — Selected by the 
Republican Party for Governor of Ohio. — Favors Grant- 
ing the Suffrage to the Negroes. — Elected Governor. — 
Candidate for Congress in 1872 but Defeated by the 
Democrats. — Retires to his Home at Fremont. — In 1875 
Once More Stands for Governorship.— Opposes Irre- 
deemable Paper-Money. — Favors Free-Schools.— His 
Campaign for Governor Makes Him a National Figure. — 
Talked about in Ohio as a Candidate for the Presidency. 265 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (CONCLUDED). 

Rutherford B. Hayes the Nominee for the Presidency. — 
Advocates Civil Service Reform. — Desires to Bring 
about Peace with the South. — An Unsatisfactory Elec- 
tion.— The Democrats Claim the Presidency for Tilden.— 



xviii 



CONTENTS. 



Bryce's View on the Situation.— Hayes Elected President 
of the United States by a Majority of One. — His Inau- 
guration. — For Civil Service Reform and Sound Money. 
— His Cabinet Chosen. — Withdraws the Troops from the 
State Houses in South. — Begins Civil Service Reforms. 
— Suspends Chester A. Arthur and Alonzo B. Cornell. — 
His Reasons for this Step. — His First Annual Message. — 
Silver Bill Passes both Houses. — The President Vetoes 
this Bill.— Handles Well the International Affairs of his 
Country. — Vetoes Bill Restricting the Immigration of 
Chinese. — Maintains " American Control over the Pan- 
ama Canal." — His Last Annual Message to Congress. — 
Retires to Private Life. — A Man of Unbending Will and 
of Great Integrity 2 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

(One Administration, 1881 — .) 

General Garfield Born at Orange, Ohio. — His Father of 
Puritan Stock ; his Mother Descended from the Hugue- 
nots. — A Precocious Child. — Infatuated by Tales of the 
Sea.- — At Work on a Canal Boat. — Attends School at 
Chester. — Becomes a Campbellite. — Enters Hiram Col- 
lege. — Studies at William College under Mark Hopkins. 
— An Able Student. — Teaches in Hiram College. — Begins 
the Study of Law. — Elected to the Senate of Ohio. — Pre- 
pares Himself for the Impending Civil War. — Ap- 
pointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 42d Regiment of 
Ohio Volunteers — Operates against Gen. Marshall in 
Eastern Kentucky. — Appointed Brigadier-General for 
his Work at Battle of Middle Creek.— At Battle of 
Shiloh. — Worn out by the Campaign. — On Court- 
Martial Duty at Washington. — At the Battle of Chick- 
amauga. — Called to Washington. — James G. Blaine 
Speaks Enthusiastically of his Military Career. — One of 
the Ablest Members of Congress. — Chosen as Senator- 
Elect from the State of Ohio. — Nominated for Pres- 



CONTENTS. 



ident by the Republican Party in 1880. — Elected cn the 
Tariff Issue. — Garfield's Cabinet. — The Collector of the 
Port of New York. — Senators Conkling and Piatt Resign. 
— The President Assassinated by Guiteau. — His Noble 
Struggle with Death. — Mourned by the Nation. — Much 
Promise in his Short Career as President. — An Eloquent 
and Able Speaker. — A Consistent Life from Log-Cabin 
to White House , 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PRESIDENT CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

(One Administration, 1881-1885.) 

Chester A. Arthur Twenty-First President of the United 
States. — Son of a Baptist Clergyman. — Educated at 
Union College. — Begins the Study of Law.— Interested 
in the Anti-Slavery Movemeut. — A Henry Clay Whig. 
— A Member of the First New York Republican Con- 
vention. — Appointed Engineer-in-Chief on the Staff of 
Governor Edwin D. Morgan. — Inspector-General of the 
New York Troops. — Returns to the Practice of Law. — 
Appointed Collector of the Port of New York by Pres- 
ident Grant. — Suspended by President Hayes for Par- 
tisanship. — Had Conducted his Office with Integrity and 
Ability. — Resumes his Law Practice. — A Delegate for 
Grant at Republican Convention, 1880. — Nominated 
for Vice-Presidency. — The Vice-Presidency too Lightly 
Considered by the American People. — Garfield and 
Arthur Elected. — William H. Robertson Appointed Col- 
lector of the Port of New York. — Vice-President Arthur 
Takes Stand against the President. — Garfield Assas- 
sinated. — Arthur Devoted to his Dying President. — 
Sworn in as President. — His Inaugural Address. — His 
Diplomatic Words at the Dedication of the Yorktown 
Monument. — Arthur's Cabinet. — The War between 
Chili, and Peru and Bolivia. — The Nicaragua Canal Con- 
sidered. — Vetoes a Bill Prohibiting Chinese Immigra- 
tion.— Does Much to Create Modern United States Navy. 



XX 



CONTENTS. 



—Encourages Expenditure for Defence and Modern 
Guns.— Advocates a High Protective Policy.— Reduction 
in Price of Letter-Postage.— An Advocate of Civil Ser- 
vice Reform.— Expedition for the Rescue of Lieutenant 
Greely. — His Term a Link between the Reconstruction 
Period and the Period of Rapid Development. — Supports 
James G. Blaine for President, 1884. — Dies, November 
18, 1886 305 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND. 

(Two Administrations, 1885-1889, 1893-1897). 

The Republican Party in Power for Twenty-Four Years. — 
Grover Cleveland to the Rescue of the Democratic 
Party.— Born in New Jersey, March 18, 1837.— His 
Family one of the Oldest in America. — His Father a 
Clergyman ; his Mother of Southern Birth. — Leaves 
School at an Early Age. — At Work in a General Store. — 
Employed in an Institution for the Blind in New York. 
— Characteristic Letter. — Journeys West. — Assists in 
the Making of a Herd Book. — Admitted to the Bar in 
1859. — Appointed District Attorney of the County of 
Erie. — In Sympathy with the Union during the War. — 
Elected Sheriff of Erie County.— Elected Mayor of 
Buffalo. — His Inaugural Address. — Earns the Name of 
the "Veto-Mayor." — Reforms Civic Affairs. — Fearless 
in his Office.— Wins the Respect of New York 326 

CHAPTER XX. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND (CONTINUED) . 

Much Corruption in State Affairs.— Grover Cleveland the 
Democratic Nominee for Governor.— His Speech at 
Manhattan Club.— Fair to Labour and to Capital.— 
Vetoes Bill Reducing the Manhattan Railway Fare.— 
Favours Just Taxation and Civil Service Reform.— His 
Second Message to the Legislature.— An Advocate of the 



CONTENTS. 



xxi 



Rights of Labour. — Supports Theodore Roosevelt in his 
Reform Efforts in New York City. — His Rule as Gov- 
ernor of New York Makes him a National Figure. — A 
Possible Democratic Candidate for the Presidency 340 

CHAPTER XXI. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND (CONTINUED) . 

Grover Cleveland Presidential Choice of Democratic 
National Convention. — His Letter of Acceptance. — 
Many of the Best Republicans Support Him. — Harper's 
Weekly Speaks on his Behalf. — Defeats James G. Blaine. 
— Rejoicing in the South over his Election. — His In- 
augural Address. — His Cabinet an Able One. — Endeav- 
ours to Reform the Civil Service. — Recklessly Distri- 
buted Land in the West Restored to the People. — 
Advises the Reduction of Import Duties. — Not a Free- 
Trader.— A Marriage in the White House. — Vetoes many 
Fraudulent Claims for Pensions. — Visits the South and 
West. — Vetoes the Texas Seed Bill. — Pronounces Himself 
in Favour of Ultimate Free Trade. — The Fisheries Ques- 
tion between England and United States Causes 
Trouble. — Re-nominated at the National Democratic 
Convention, 1888. — His Acceptance of the Nomination. 
— A President on Whom there was no Blot. 350 

CHAPTER XXII. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND (CONCLUDED) . 

Defeated for the Presidency by General Harrison. — Be- 
gins the Practice of Law in New York City. — Writes 
Letter against Free and Unlimited Coinage of Silver. — 
In 1890 Congressional Elections go Democratic. — Grover 
Cleveland Nominated for the Presidency at Chicago, 
1892. — His Letter of Acceptance. — The First President 
Re-Elected after an Interim. — Chooses His Cabinet. — A 
Time of General Depression in the Country. — The 
Hawaii Situation. — Mr. Dole President of Hawaii. — The 
Cuban Situation Attracts the Attention of the United 



xxii 



CONTENTS. 



States. — The Venezuela Boundary Question. — President 
Cleveland Advocates Arbitration. — War Threatening 
between Great Britain and the United States. — The 
President's Startling Message. — The United States Com- 
mission Appointed. — The .Venezuela Boundary Treaty 
Signed. — The Columbian Exposition at Chicago. — Hard 
Times in the United States. — Sherman Act Repealed. — 
The President Advocates Tariff Revision. — The Wilson 
Bill Passes the House. — Passes the Senate in a Greatly 
Altered Condition. — President Cleveland Feels the Sit- 
uation Keenly. — The Riots' in Chicago Firmly Dealt 
with by the President. — William J. Bryan Nominated 
for the Presidency. — Bryan Defeated by William Mc- 
Kinley. — Cleveland Still a Force for Good in the United 
States , 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

(One Administration 1889-1893.) 

Benjamin Harrison of Viginian Stock. — His Ancestors 
Puritans of Cromwell's Time. — The Dying Words of the 
Regicide Harrison. — Related to the Churchills. — Ben- 
jamin Harrison of the Revolution. — William Henry 
Harrison (Tippecanoe), President of the United States, 
Grandfather of Benjamin Harrison. — Benjamin Harri- 
son. — Born in Ohio in 1833. — In Early Life an Admirer 
of Webster. — Educated at Farmers College.— On De- 
feat of Whig Party Becomes a Republican. — Marries 
Caroline L. Scott. — His Struggle for Existence in In- 
dianapolis. — Recruits the 70th Regiment for the Civil 
War. — Takes the Field as Colonel of the Regiment. — 
Hero of Many Battles. — His Gallant Charge at the 
Battle of Peach Tree Creek. — Promoted to the Rank 
of Brigadier- General. — General Hooker's Words in his 
Praise. — Smitten Down with Fever. — Recognized as a 
Man of Force and Character in his State 



CONTENTS. 



xxiii 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON (CONCLUDED). 

PAGE 

General Harrison Nominated for the Governorship of 
Indiana.— Though Defeated a Strong Candidate.— A 
Friend of the Workmen. — A Member of the Mississippi 
River Commission. — Supports Garfield at Republican 
Convention in Chicago. — Offered a Place in Garfield's 
Cabinet. — Appointed to the Senate. — A Severe Critic of 
President's Cleveland's Administration. — Talked of in 
Ohio for Presidency. — Nominated at Chicago, June 19, 
1838. — Accepts the Nomination. — Favours a Protective 
Tariff. — Opposed to Chinese Immigration. — Favours In- 
creased Naval Expenditure. — His Antipathy to Britain. 
— Addresses Delegates at his Indianapolis Home. — 
Elected President. — His Inaugural Address. — The Bear- 
ing Sea Question. — The McKinley Bill. — Approves of 
Sherman's Silver Bill. — Points out the Necessity of 
Tariff Revision. — Civil War in Chili. — Italians Lynched 
by Mob in New Orleans. — Italian Minister Recalled from 
Washington. — Harrison Renominated for President. — 
Defeated by Grover Cleveland. — The Hawaiian Situa- 
tion . — Presiden t's Harrison's Prophetic Words with Re- 
gard to American Progress. — In Private Life Once more. 
— His Death in Opening Year of Twentieth Century 392 

CHAPTER XXV. 

PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

(Two Administrations, 1897-1901, 1901—). 

The Last President of the Nineteenth Century a Victim 
of the Anarchists. — William McKinley, Born in Ohio, 
1843. — His Ancestors Veterans of the Revolutionary 
War and of the War of 1812.— His Early Education.— 
Answers Lincoln's Call for Volunteers when Sumter 
was Fired upon. — A Private in the Ranks. — Sees Much 
Fighting. — Whitelaw Reid's Account of his Regiment's 
Work at South Mountain and Antietam. — McKinley 's 



xxiv 



CONTENTS. 



Heroic Work on Latter Occasion.— His Rapid Promotion. 
— Fighting in the Shenandoah Valley.— A Captain at 
the Battle of Opequan. — Appointed a Brevet-Major by 
President Lincoln for Gallant Services.— Receives a 
Staff Appointment at Washington.— On Close of War 
Begins the Study of Law. — A Republican and a Pro- 
tectionist. — Elected District- Attorney. — Marries Miss 
IdaSaxton 406 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

PRESIDENT MCKINLEY (CONTINUED) . 

Major McKinley an Active Politician in Ohio. — Elected to 
Congress in 1876. — Meets Mr. James G. Blaine. — Becomes 
the Great Apostle of a High Protective Tariff. — An 
Attempt to Gerrymander him out of Congress. — Rec- 
ognized as one of the Ablest Republicans in the House. 
— His Attitude on the Money Question. — Prefers " a 
Tariff for Protection with Incidental Revenue.'' — A 
Brilliant Speech on Protection. — A Practical Politician. 
— A Supporter~of John Sherman for the Presidency. — 
An Attempt made to Nominate McKinJey in 1888. — Re- 
fuses to Accept the Nomination. — Supports General 
Harrison at the Convention in 1892. — Attacks the Mills 
Tariff Bill.— Constructs the McKinley Tariff Bill. — 
Elected Governor of Ohio. — An Able Governor and a 
Friend to the Toilers. — In His Second Campaign for the 
Governorship Takes Stand against Free Trade and Free 
Silver. — An Upholder of Law and Order. — Speaks Vig- 
orously against the Wilson-Gorman Law. — Meets with 
Financial Disaster.— His Heroic Conduct under Mis- 
fortune.— His Friends to the Rescue 418 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY (CONTINUED). 

Governor McKinley Speaks before Vast Audiences. — The 
Republican Platform in 1896.— Nominated for the Pres- 
idency. — William Jennings Bryan Nominated by Dem- 



CONTENTS. 



xxv 



ocrats. — McKinley Elected President. — Selects his Cabi- 
net. — Trade in a Depressed Condition. — The President's 
First Message to Congress. — Reviews the Condition of 
the Country.— The Tariff Bill of Nelson Dingier.— The 
Situation in Cuba. — The President asks Aid for Suffer- 
ing Americans in Cuba. — The Spanish Minister at Wash- 
ington Criticises the President. — The "Maine" Des- 
troyed in Havana Harbour. — Preparations for War. — 
The President Lays the Cuban Situation before Con- 
gress. — General Woodford Minister to Spain Given his 
Passports. — The Spanish-American War Begins. — The 
Relative Strength of the two Countries. — The Grounds 
on which United States Entered upon War. — Cuba 
Blockaded. — The Spanish Fleet Destroyed in Manila 
Harbour. — Admiral Cervera's Fleet Destroyed at San- 
tiago. — Peace Negotiations Begin. — War Ceases. — 
Liberal Terms Granted to Spain. — The Philippine Situa- 
tion. — Commission Appointed to Examine Philippine 
Question. — Hawaii Made a Territory of United States. — 
Situation in the Island of Samoa. — United States Enters 
on an Imperial Career. — The Boxer Movement in China. 
— Weighty Questions Ably Handled by President Mc- 
Kinley : 434 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

PRESIDENT "WILLIAM MCKINLEY (CONCLUDED) . 

The Situation Demands a Return of President McKinley 
to the White House. — The Philadelphia Republican Con- 
vention. — SenatorWolcott Speaks on the Country's Sit- 
uation. — The Platform of the Republican Party. — Pres- 
ident McKinley Renominated. — Theodore Roosevelt 
Nominated for the Vice-Presidency. — Mark Hanna's Ap- 
peal to the Country. — William J. Bryan the Democratic 
Nominee. — Still Upholds Free Silver. — The Growth of 
the United States in the Century. — President McKinley 
Re-elected. — Makes an Extended Tour of the Country. — 
His Speech on the Battlefield of Antietam. — His Speech 



xxvi 



CONTENTS. 



at Memphis.-— His Journey Through the South a Tri- 
umph.— Illness of Mrs. McKinley Stops Tour.— The Phil- 
ippine Situation. — The Billion Dollar Steel Trust. — Pres- 
ident's Day at the Pan-American Exposition. — The Ad- 
dress of President McKinley at the Pan-American. — A 
Thoroughly Cosmopolitan and Christian Ruler. — Takes 
a Holiday to Niagara. — Assassinated by Leon Czolgosz. 
— The President's Brave Struggle with Death. — His 
Dying Words.— Mourned by the Entire Nation.— Pres- 
ident Roosevelt Takes the Oath of Office —Carries out 
the Policy of President McKinley, 455 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Facing Page 

President Lincoln Frontispiece 

General Grant 1 

James Buchanan 48 / 

Benjamin Harrison 379 J 

William McKinley 406 / 



GENERAL GRANT. 
Photogravure from a steel engraving. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED 
STATES IN THE CENTURY, 



CHAPTEK I. 

INTEODTJCTOEY. 

Caelyle in his Cromwell, Frederick the 
Great and The French Revolution, and Green 
in his sober and picturesque History of England 
taught the modern Anglo-Saxon world both how to 
write and to read history. Facts are excellent 
things, and a writer should take the greatest care to 
sift his material, separating fact from fiction, well 
established information from mere traditions. 
Carlyle and Green, however, saw with clear vision 
that the living souls, about whom cluster the facts 
of history like the nerves and veins, the blood and 
flesh and bones about the human personality, were 
vastly more important than the mere dates on which 
they performed their deeds or the incidents in which 
they played their parts. The great Elizabethan age 
is made an open sesame to the twentieth century 

1 



2 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



reader by the strength of Green's drawing of Queen 
Elizabeth, with her patriotism and falsehood, her 
intellectual brilliancy and her feminine vanity, her 
strength as a ruler and her fondness for show and 
applause; and by the keen insight of the historian 
into the lives of the authors of her reign, the men 
who made the age immortal: the pen pictures given 
of Marlowe and Greene with their intellectual keen- 
ness and their animal impulses, — their strong men- 
tality bound within half savage shells, each a Cali- 
ban and a Prospero in one and the same body ; — 
these things reveal the age and make it live as no dry- 
as-dust treatment could do. 

In the same way to make the modern world live, 
it is necessary to know the men and women who 
have made its history. Disraeli and Gladstone and 
Chamberlain are modern England, Bismarck is 
modern Germany : and so with the United States ; 
to know it thoroughly and well, to grasp the spirit 
that animates the nation, it is only necessary to study 
the lives of the presidents, who are at once typical 
Americans and embodiments of the popular mind. 

Koughiy speaking, the history of the United States 
might be divided into two great periods, — the forma- 
tive period and the period of progress. It would 
not be unfitting to make the division between these 
two periods at 1852 when Franklin Pierce was 
elected President. It is no easy matter in literature 
or in history to draw hard and fast lines separating 
one age from another, but certain great events in 
literature and history seem to distinctly mark epochs. 
In a sense the defeat of General Winfleld Scott for 
the Presidency, and with that defeat the passing 
away forever from the stage of American politics of 
the great Whig party, ends a great period. Up to 



L 



INTRODUCTORY . 



3 



this time the nation had been a struggling youth 
forming its character, strong and vigorous, but with- 
out definite ideals or that unity of aim that makes 
for true growth. It was without an ideal, and the 
party strife was bitter and cruel. The Whigs swept 
from the boards, the modern Republican party 
stepped on the scene and a battle royal began be- 
tween the Democrats and the Republicans which has 
marked the era of progress that is still going on and 
which is rapidly making the United States the first 
among the nations of the world, in enterprise, in 
achievement, in wealth, and in wisdom; and it 
looks very much as though the beginning of the 
twentieth century was the initial step in a movement 
that will make her first in literature and art. 

There had of course been exceptional progress 
made before 1852, but the second half of the nine- 
teenth century saw the nation advance by leaps and 
bounds without a parallel in the world's history. 
Carthage, Greece, Rome, Spain grew, it is true, rap- 
idly, but they grew " by conquest without representa- 
tion," and while they became wealthy their influence 
throughout their Empire was the influence of a 
despot. It has been otherwise with the United 
States ; her boundaries broadened by peaceful means, 
and save for the Mexican war she acquired no terri- 
tory by the sword till the last years of the century 
when the Spanish islands at her doors and the Span- 
ish possessions in the Philippines came under her 
sway. In neither of these cases did the nation attack 
a foreign power for the sake of acquiring territory. 

It would be well in commencing the study of the 
lives of the men who have made the history of the last 
fifty years of the United States (and the President 
is more decidedly a history-maker than Czar, or 



4 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Kaiser, or King) to realise the significance of the 
Pierce-Scott campaign. A new era began with the 
election of Franklin Pierce. He came into power at 
what seemed to be a time of peace, but it was 
merely the calm before the storm; external peace 
gave time for the growth of internal strife, and the 
struggle over Kansas which began in 1854 and cul- 
minated under President Buchanan was the initial 
movement in the life of the Union as it exists to-day. 

It was well that this civil strife came when it did. 
It cleared the air at the time when commercial and 
industrial progress was about to enter on its modern 
stage, when miracle-working machinery was about 
to change the face of the earth, annihilating space, 
revealing the secrets of the heavens, the earth, and 
the waters under the earth, and making man's lot 
happier and more comfortable, giving him control 
over the powers of the air, enabling him to throw 
paths across roaring torrents and wide streams, to 
bore his way through mountain barriers, or to climb 
their steep sides with safety and speed. These 
things have made the latter half of the nineteenth 
century peculiarly an age of progress, and that the 
modern spirit has so decidedly found a home on this 
continent is due very largely to the shrewd and far- 
seeing men who have been placed in the presidential 
chair. 

Prom Pierce to McKinley is a short period in 
time, but in growth it is the greatest period in the 
world's history, and in fifty years more development 
has taken place in material prosperity, in spiritual 
growth and insight than in all the previous centuries 
of the Christian era. This may seem an extreme 
statement when the mind rapidly runs over in re- 
view the great philosophers, the painters, the sculp- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



5 



tors, the poets, and even the scientists of earlier 
times; but it must be remembered that in previous 
centuries knowledge and power were the property 
of the few and only here and there a choice spirit 
was to be found who seemed, as it were, to have 
snatched fire from the altars of the gods ; that while 
occasional brilliant minds rose above their environ- 
ment and illuminated the world with their trans- 
cendent genius they were but as beacons in a sea of 
ignorance and superstition. Now the ignorant man 
in America is the exception, and only in the most 
remote corners of the country or under abnormal 
circumstances of life and society is superstition to 
be found. 

It is noteworthy that great periods of growth have 
almost invariably been ushered in by wars. The 
great reforms at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century had as their fore-runners the American 
Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napo- 
leonic wars; the mid-century movements, too, were 
conceived in blood,— the Crimean war, the Indian 
Mutiny, and the Civil war of the United States were 
the preludes of widespread progress and reform and 
loftier national ideals. It would seem that a new era 
is opening with the twentieth century, an era of arbi- 
tration, of peaceful modes of solving international 
problems, of philanthropy and altruism; the Span- 
ish-American war and the Great Boer war would 
almost seem to be the conflicts marking the transition 
between the period of ambition and progress among 
the nations and the period just opening up which it 
would be hard to name, but which will probably be 
marked among the nations by a wider realisation of 
the fundamentals of Christianity and an application 
of Christian principles in international affairs, and 



6 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

in the dealings of civilised powers with less civilised 
and barbarous peoples. 

For an understanding of the great problems that 
have occupied the minds of the American nation it 
is only necessary to study the lives of the presidents. 
Take for example the life of Pierce. It is often 
a source of wonder how the Southern Pro-slavery 
party made such headway against the Abolitionists 
in the opening years of the great Civil war. If the 
life of President Pierce is studied carefully the rea- 
son will be evident. The South was a unit ; the 
North at the beginning of the strife was divided. 
Pierce, while a Northern man and no friend of slav- 
ery as such, held, like many others in the North, that 
the Constitution sanctioned slavery and on account 
of the vested interests it should be sustained. In his 
desire for justice, as he saw it, he gave a helping 
hand to the slavery party. Again, when he came into 
office his country was reaching out commercially, 
and the rehearsal of the part he played in opening 
the gates of Japan, in establishing a reciprocity 
treaty with Canada and more favourable terms with 
European powers, in helping on ocean traffic, etc., 
gives in a more living manner the progress of his 
country between 1853 and 1857 than could be done 
if volumes of bald facts on these questions were pre- 
sented to the reader. 

It is the same with the period between 1861 and 
1865. To understand why the North triumphed over 
the South it is only necessary to live in spirit with 
Abraham Lincoln. The sturdy and typical Ameri- 
canism of which he was the embodiment, the indigna- 
tion caused by man's inhumanity to man which 
focussed in his heart, the determination that knew 
no defeat, — find expression in his life. The spirit 



INTRODUCTORY. 



1 



that animated Abraham Lincoln was the spirit of 
the Abolitionist party as a whole, and to know that 
party well and to know the spirit of the nation endur- 
ing a bloody war, making superhuman sacrifices for 
an ideal, it is only necessary to study carefully the 
life of Lincoln from his rude early surroundings 
in his Kentucky home to his martyrdom through the 
malice of the party he had crushed. 

There is another tendency in the nation, the tend- 
ency to marshall the forces of democracy against the 
plutocracy, the people against the trusts and com- 
bines. The true spirit of democracy can best be 
gathered from a perusal of the career of Grover 
Cleveland. He was, during his presidential life, a 
type of sober-minded democracy, a man free from 
the extreme points of view that are so often asso- 
ciated with the word Democrat, a man of sound judg- 
ment and great business capacity, — and to know his 
life is to know the history of his country between 
1885 and 1889 and 1893 and 1897. 

But the nation was slowly but surely growing in 
sobriety of judgment, humanity, and spiritual life; 
and in the last great President, who has just fallen 
beneath the bullet of the assassin — the third Presi- 
dent to die by the hand of an assassin within a 
period of only thirty-six years — there was the high- 
est manifestation of the national life at the close 
of the nineteenth century. He possessed good judg- 
ment, fine business capacity, an unbending, though 
not stubborn, will, and a religious depth of feeling. 
He was but a type of the nation, on the one hand 
keenly awake to business, on the other desiring a life 
higher than this mundane one. 

The period covered by the lives of the eleven 
presidents included in this volume is one rich in 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



material prosperity and national growth. In this 
period, for instance, the Atlantic cable has been laid 
chaining the old world to the new, Niagara has been 
spanned, and the thunder of the trains overhead 
mingles with the roar of the giant fall beneath them, 
the modern weapons of war have been invented, the 
great processes for manufacturing steel have been 
perfected, and electricity, the terror of the ancients, 
has been made the handmaid and the plaything of 
man. It is this age, in the most progressive of 
modern countries, we would study in the light of the 
men chosen from the nation by the nation to be their 
rulers. As Carlyle has said, " Great Men, taken up 
in any way, are profitable company," and it would 
be impossible among the rulers of the nineteenth cen- 
tury or of all preceding centuries to find more 
profitable subjects for study than the Presidents of 
the American people. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



9 



CHAPTEK II. 

president franexin pierce. 

(One Administration 1853-1857) 

During the first half of the nineteenth century a 
race of strong men swayed the wills of the people 
of the North and the South ; chief among these were 
Calhoun, Clay and Webster, — men keen to grasp a 
situation, quick to see a weak spot in the armour of 
their opponents and powerful in the presentation of 
their ideas. For the most part they were too bril- 
liant ; and though they were ambitious to occupy the 
chief place in the nation, they found themselves 
beaten in the race for presidential honours by such 
blunt soldiers as Jackson, Harrison, and Taylor and 
by such mediocre statesmen as Polk and Fillmore 
or such a smooth-tongued diplomat as Martin Van 
Buren. 

ISTo nation was ever in greater need of a strong 
man in every sense of the word at the helm 
than was the United States at the middle of 
the nineteenth century. She had had a " crit- 
ical period " after the Revolution, and she was 
only saved by the wisdom of Washington; she 
was now approaching a still more critical period, and 
had there been a Washington in the Capital during 
the time of the Mexican war and in the days when 



10 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tlie Kansas struggle shook the nation she might have 
gained union and solidarity without the bloody 
struggle which would have sapped the resources and 
left bankrupt any country save one with such infinite 
sources of expansion and inexhaustible wealth. The 
country was drifting, drifting over a stormy sea, 
and stormy waves from the ISTorth met stormier waves 
from the South, and yet the captain seemed not to 
see the maelstrom towards which the vessel was being 
driven. 

In 1853, Franklin Pierce became President of the 
United States. While he was a man of great in- 
tegrity, noble character, of considerable breadth of 
mind, a politician trained by crossing swords with 
such men as Clay and Yv 7 ebster, he did little or 
nothing to avert the calamity that was rapidly 
approaching. 

Franklin Pierce like the majority of the presi- 
dents of the United States, could point with pride 
to the part his ancestors had played in the struggle 
that made his country a self-respecting and self- 
governing one. His father, Benjamin Pierce, was 
but a lad of seventeen at the time when the agi- 
tation against the tryanny of King George and his 
ministers culminated in the fight at Lexington. He 
was, however, not too young to handle a musket in 
his country's cause, and from the outbreak of the 
war until the Patriot Army disbanded in 1784 he 
fought almost continuously, winning the esteem of 
his officers and the confidence of his comrades in 
arms. That he had, although so young, more than 
ordinary military ability is shown by the fact that 
when the war was over he had attained the rank of 
captain and brevet major. He had seen enough 
of service through the trying years of the Revolution 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



11 



to break his constitution, but his hard experiences 
only seemed to make him stronger, physically, men- 
tally and morally. His country was, however, too 
poor to give him fitting compensation for his years 
of arduous service, and he was forced to face life 
with but two hundred dollars in his pocket. The 
outlook was not a bright one. In his native State, 
Massachusetts, long settled and populous, land was 
dear and his wealth would go but a small way in 
obtaining a farm, and so he was forced to look else- 
where. 

The !N"ew Hampshire Grants were then attract- 
ing a good deal of attention, and to the wild woods 
on the borders of civilisation he went to carve out 
for himself a home in the almost unbroken wilder- 
ness. Other settlers had been before him, and near 
a rippling stream, which was alive with trout, he 
came upon a rude log cabin situated in a little clear- 
ing. The owner was rich in an estate of one hun- 
dred and fifty acres. It is true it was principally 
forest land, but the dozen or so acres that were par- 
tially cleared and the trout stream that delighted the 
young captain were a great temptation. Besides, 
he did not feel like beginning on the primeval forest, 
and so he offered the settler one hundred and fifty 
dollars for his one hundred and fifty acres, and the 
property became his, log hut and all. He married 
Elizabeth Andrews, but she died when only twenty- 
one years old. Shortly after her death he again 
married; his second wife's name was Anna Hen- 
drick. By this marriage he became the father of 
five sons and three daughters; two of the boys died 
young, but the remaining three all became more or 
less distinguished and all inherited from their 
father his love of military life. The fourth son, 



12 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Franklin Pierce, the subject of this sketch, was born 
at Hillsborough, November 22, 1804. 

With the same energy that had made Benjamin 
Pierce a good soldier and won him rapid promotion 
in the army he entered into the life of the commu- 
nity in which he settled. He was not long in the 
Hillsborough district before he was recognised as a 
man of more than ordinary ability and integrity, and 
in 1789 his neighbors sent him to the Legislature; 
and so well did he acquit himself there that, until 
1803, he continued to be their representative. In 
that year he became a member of the governor's 
council, and did such good work until 1809 that the 
people of Hillsborough thought it about time to re- 
ward him for his long years of unselfish service 
on their behalf, and chose him sheriff of the county. 

One of his first acts in his new office well illus- 
trates his character and will help the reader to un- 
derstand whence Franklin Pierce got his noble, sym- 
pathetic nature. He had under his jurisdiction as 
sheriff a number of prisoners for debt, among them 
three who were veterans of the Revolution. He con- 
sidered the law which enabled creditors to imprison 
their debtors an iniquitous one, and the fact that 
three men who had on many well-fought fields risked 
their lives for their country's life, and who like him- 
self had probably received practically no remunera- 
tion for their long years of suffering and danger, 
should be in durance vile, stirred him deeply. He 
could not rest content in his new office and daily 
come in contact with these three veterans suffering 
as criminals for no crime but for a misfortune which, 
perchance, was quite as much their country's fault 
as their own. In the bigness of his heart he paid 
their debts, set them at liberty and spoke in the 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



13 



strongest terms against the iniquitous law which 
had incarcerated them. 

Such a man was the father of Franklin Pierce. 
Although sheriff of the county he still took an in- 
terest in the political life of his country and con- 
tinued to grow in the esteem of all who knew him; 
so much so that in 1827 he was elected governor 
of New Hampshire, and, although defeated by the 
energy of the Adams men in 1828, was again elected 
to the same office in 1829. 

Although young Ben Pierce had as he thought laid 
aside, in 1784, the sword for the axe and the hoe, his 
long years of military service had left their impress 
deep on his character, and when General Sullivan 
reorganised the New Hampshire Militia in 1786 he 
was one of the first to offer his services, and his abil- 
ity and experience was such that he rapidly rose 
to the rank of brigadier-general. Until his death 
in 1839 there was no man in New Hampshire 
who in military and political affairs did more for 
his State than Ben Pierce. That Franklin Pierce 
as a politician and, in a lesser degree, as a soldier 
was such a successful man was largely due to the 
example of his father and to the training he received 
at his hands. Benjamin early saw that his son 
Frank had more than ordinary ability, and deter- 
mined to give him the very best education his country 
afforded. As the schools in the immediate vicinity 
of his home were of the most primitive nature, he 
sent his son first to one at Hancock, then to one at 
Francestown and finally to Exeter Academy, where 
he was prepared for Bowdoin College. At sixteen, 
by no means an early age for a matriculant of that 
day, he entered Bowdoin College. 

In every man there are two or even more distinct 



14 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



characters. Pierce had an intellectual keenness 
which, however, was not vigorous enough to predomi- 
nate over a physical energy that drew him from his 
books. The first two years of his course were far 
from brilliant, and he seems to have dreamt away his 
time, barely passing on examinations that were, in 
the light of our present standards, ridiculously easy. 
It is said that he was a reckless, dissipated student ; 
but this has to be taken cum grano. He could not 
have gone very deep before his eighteenth year, and 
by that time he seems to have settled down into an 
earnest, industrious student. It should be remem- 
bered that his character at college was such as to 
win the esteem and lifelong admiration of his col- 
lege mate, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the love of the 
sweet and God-fearing daughter of the president of 
Bowdoin College, Jane Means Appleton. No doubt 
his enthusiastic nature found more enjoyment out of 
the society of Longfellow, Hawthorne and others of 
his classmates who were to achieve distinction than 
out of the pages of his Euclid or Cicero. 

After two years' residence at college he found 
himself at the foot of his class, but the most popular 
student. He had won the friendship of a fellow 
student, Zeneas Cauldwell, a pious Methodist who, 
sorry for his brilliant friend's failure, determined 
to shape his character into new channels, and, what 
is more, by his persistence, succeeded. Due to the 
influence of Zeneas, Pierce became a serious Chris- 
tian man, and, although never a religious enthu- 
siast, his whole character was influenced by Christian- 
ity. At the close of his sophomore year he went with 
Zeneas to Hebron, Me., and, to fit himself for future 
work, tried his hand at school-teaching at fourteen 
dollars a month. He returned to college with re- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



15 



newed energy at the close of his vacation, and when 
he graduated in 1824 it was with honours, and he 
stood third in an exceptionally brilliant class. 

During his course the students of Bowdoin estab- 
lished a military company, and, both from his own 
popularity and the fact that his father was a briga- 
dier-general and had fought through the Revolution- 
ary war, he was unanimously elected captain, and 
much of the time that should have been given to his 
books was given to military tactics and drill. ISTo 
doubt the college authorities deplored the way the 
promising young student was squandering his time, 
but it was well that he shaped his life after his own 
fashion. His military studies helped to fit him for 
his career in the Mexican war, and the time spent 
in discussion and reading gave him a wider view 
of life than he could have gained from sticking 
closely to his school texts. The ardent student too 
often is unable to think without a book or pen in 
his hand; Franklin Pierce for his career needed the 
quickness of wit that comes from living contact with 
men rather than from books. 

On leaving college he at once began the study of 
law, first in the office of the Hon. Edward Parker 
at Amherst, then under the Hon. Levi Woodbury at 
Portsmouth, and finally gave a finish to his study 
by attendance at the Law School at £Torth Hampton, 
Mass. He was admitted to the Bar in 1827, just 
as his father was entering on his campaign for the 
governorship of the State. This was the opening 
young Pierce needed, and he at once began his career 
as a politician by actively working in his father's 
interests. 

He was more successful as a stump orator than 
as a lawyer, however. Indeed, according to his bio- 



16 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



grapher and friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, he was 
never what could be called a brilliant pleader at 
the bar. His first case before a jury was at Am- 
herst. He failed, hopelessly failed. He was deeply 
chagrined at this defeat, and his friends felt keenly 
for him; but he was made of the right stuff. Like 
many another strong man he needed adversity to 
bring out all that was best in him. It was his fail- 
ure in his sophomore year that made him leave col- 
lege one of the best honour students of his class, and 
it was his failure in his Amherst case that finally 
made him a successful lawyer, if not a great one. 
He showed in a remark to a friend about this reverse 
wherein lay his true strength : " I will try," he said, 
" nine hundred and ninety-nine cases, if clients con- 
tinue to trust me, and if I fail just as I have to-day, 
I will try the thousandth. I shall live to argue 
cases in this court-house in a manner that will mor- 
tify neither myself nor my friends." 

In the following year he had an opportunity of 
testing his powers. There was a hot fight in New 
Hampshire between the friends of General Jackson 
and the supporters of John Quincy Adams, and 
into this fight Franklin Pierce entered as a Jackson 
man. But the Adams men were too strong, and even 
Governor Pierce, popular as he was, suffered defeat. 
In a year's time his son once more took the stump 
on his behalf, and his growth in power was so re- 
markable that his friends and even his enemies began 
to recognise that he had a future before him. In 
1830, he was elected to the New Hampshire Legisla- 
ture and in 1832-33 was chosen Speaker of the 
House. He was slowly but surely winning his way 
upwards, and his supporters, recognising his strength 
and integrity, were willing to trust him still further. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



17 



In 1833, he was elected to the Congress of the United 
States at the early age of twenty-nine. 

His career in Congress was not a remarkably bril- 
liant one. He proved himself an industrious 
worker. He was a most pronounced partisan and 
by his support of President Jackson won the life long- 
esteem of that distinguished soldier. He stood by 
the President in his attacks on the United States 
Bank, which extended from 1829 to 1836, and no 
doubt was as pleased as the President himself when 
the latter finally succeeded in taking " the strut out 
of this Biddle." Although he had proved himself a 
good stump orator in New Hampshire he was not a 
power on the floors of Congress. Debating was not 
his strong point, and he contented himself with do- 
ing the work he could do faithfully and well. He 
however could make himself listened to, and in 1834 
delivered his first important speech. In it he dealt 
with the necessities of exercising the greatest care 
in the payment of Revolutionary claims. This was 
a subject on which he was no doubt at home as the 
son of a man who had fought through the entire 
Revolutionary war and who had received but scant 
reward for his services. 

During his career in Congress he commanded the 
attention of the House on at least two other im- 
portant occasions. His speech in 1835 against the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia 
showed his attitude on the slave question, and from 
the position he then took he never swerved. In the 
following year he spoke against the appropriations 
for the Military Academy at West Point. He was 
yet to go through the Mexican war, and what he 
then saw of the " citizen soldiers " convinced him 
that he was wrong, and that, though military insti- 
2 



18 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tutions may have their bad side, they are a necessity 
to any country and the greatest safeguard of peace. 
Soldiers are but the police of the world, and the more 
efficient they are the more steadfast will be peace. 

In 1836, Congressman Pierce was actively engaged 
in the Presidential campaign and did not a little 
to keep New Hampshire strongly democratic. In 
the following year, when but thirty-three years old, 
the New Hampshire Legislature elected him to the 
Senate of the United States, and he took his seat 
within those illustrious halls at a time when the air 
was heavy with change, and when some of the ablest 
speakers who ever charmed the ears of American 
audiences or stirred their hearts as with living fire, 
were his daily associates. Constantly coming under 
the influence of men like Calhoun, Buchanan, and 
Benton he could not but develop ; and, although dur- 
ing the years in the New Hampshire Legislature and 
Congress he had not proved himself a remarkable 
speaker, by perseverance and careful preparation he 
gained such a command over language, that, although 
the youngest member of the Senate, he was ever lis- 
tened to with pleasure. The following description 
of Pierce as a Senator, from the pen of his con- 
temporary, James Buchanan, gives a good idea of the 
man at that time : 

'''When General Pierce first made his appearance 
in the Senate he was one of the youngest, if not the 
very youngest, of its members. Modest and unas- 
suming in his deportment, but firm and determined 
in his principles and purposes, it was not long before 
he acquired the respect and esteem of his brother 
senators. From deep conviction he was a State 
Rights Democrat, sound, unwavering, and inflexible; 
and I venture to predict that when his votes shall 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



19 



be scrutinised and tested by the touchstone of demo- 
cratic principles, they will present as fair a record 
as those of even the lamented (Silas) Wright him- 
self. His innate modesty and comparative youth 
prevented him from addressing the Senate very fre- 
quently, and yet I well recollect some of his efforts 
which would have done no discredit to the oldest and 
ablest members of the body, then in its most palmy 
days. When he spoke he was always prepared; his 
voice was excellent, his language well chosen and 
felicitous, and he had an earnestness of manner, 
proceeding evidently from deep conviction, which 
always commanded the attention of his audience." 

While in the Senate, although it would hardly be 
just to call him a Pro-slavery man, he certainly was 
strongly opposed to the Anti-slavery party. He was 
a consistent State Rights Democrat, and was in his 
attitude on the bitter question of slavery influenced 
by his love of the Union. He feared that the extreme 
Abolitionists would bring about a severing of the 
jSTorth from the South and his attitude on slavery 
was largely due to his desire to maintain the Union 
of his country; just as when the war of secession 
broke out he put aside all party prejudices and spoke 
in trumpet tones for the Union. 

It is, however, difficult to understand his position 
on the matter of the petitions that were laid before 
the House on the slavery question. The right of 
petition is a right dear to all modern minds and par- 
ticularly so to those of Anglo-Saxon blood, and yet 
Pierce was one of the select committee who brought 
in a resolution to the House of Representatives to 
effectually kill this right. It is difficult, knowing 
the fair-minded character of the man, to understand 
how he could endorse the following resolutions: — 



20 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



" Resolved, That Congress possesses no constitu- 
tional authority to interfere in any way with the 
institution of slavery in any of the States of this 
confederacy. 

" Resolved, That Congress ought not to interfere 
in any way with slavery in the District of Columbia. 

" And whereas it is extremely important and de- 
sirable that the agitation on this subject should be 
finally arrested, for the purpose of restoring tran- 
quillity to the public mind, your committee respect- 
fully recommend the adoption of the following ad- 
ditional resolutions — viz : 

" Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolu- 
tions, propositions, or papers relating in any way to 
the subject of slavery, shall, without being printed 
or referred, be laid upon the table, and no further 
action shall be had thereon." 

It is difficult to understand how Franklin Pierce 
could sanction this last resolution, but it must be 
remembered that the Abolition party was an extreme 
one, and he saw the way things were drifting. It 
was no doubt due to his desire to see his country 
saved from the strife that was threatening and which 
he feared would tear it asunder that impelled him to 
agree to this iniquitous report- — a report which was 
adopted by the House. 

He was not silent on the other great questions agi- 
tating the nation during his term in the Senate, and 
his voice was heard in a vigorous speech in 1840 
on the Indian war then being waged in Florida. 
He was, however, .soon to leave the Senate. His 
wife's health was not good at this time, and as he at- 
tributed her condition to the climate of Washington 
he decided to resign his seat and return to the more 
congenial region of New Hampshire. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



21 



While he was considerate of his wife's health, no 
doubt his law practice had something to do with 
his decision. He had moved from Hillsborough to 
Concord in 1838, and found more work than he could 
do. His political life greatly interfered with his 
professional duties, and for business reasons he may 
have been prompted to resign his seat in the Senate. 
Doubtless, too, the death of his father in 1839 made 
him less ambitious of following a political career. 
Whatever were the reasons he resigned his seat June 
28, 1842, and it seemed with the fixed determination 
of never again entering upon a public career. How- 
ever he was drawn out of his shell in 1844 to help 
his friend James K. Polk in his presidential cam- 
paign at the time when the United States was on 
the verge of war with Mexico and when this great 
issue had stirred up considerable party feeling. Dur- 
ing the canvass he declared that should it be im- 
possible to avoid war he would enlist as a soldier. 
This promise he was to keep. 

In 1845, he was offered a seat in the Senate, but 
refused it, giving the same reasons that he gave for 
resigning three years previously. President Polk, 
however, out of gratitude for his services, and know- 
ing his sterling qualities and his legal acumen, offered 
him the position of attorney-general in his cabinet, 
but he had no desire to reside in Washington, and so 
rejected this splendid offer. However, he did accept 
from President Polk the position of district-attorney 
for 'New Hampshire. 

He was soon to receive an urgent call that neither 
the pressure of business nor domestic considerations 
could make him resist. Since the attack was made 
on Port Brown on May 3, 1846, the war with 
Mexico had been vigorously prosecuted. Palo Alto, 



22 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey had all become 
historical names renowned for the gallant deeds of 
the soldiers of the United States and for the fine 
generalship of their leaders. But the war was far 
from finished, and it was found necessary to make 
ready ten new regiments. True to his promise 
Franklin Pierce joined the Concord company of the 
New Hampshire battalion as a private, but when the 
force was ready to be sent to the front, President 
Polk offered him a commission as a Colonel, and 
later, on March 3, 1847, appointed him a brigadier- 
general. His experiences at Bowdoin College, where 
during his first two years his studies had been so 
sadly neglected, were now to stand him in good 
stead. 

The brigade over which General Pierce had com- 
mand consisted of the Ninth Regiment from New 
England; the Twelfth from the South Western 
States; and the Fifteenth, from the Western States. 
The troops sailed in the barque " Kepler " for Vera 
Cruz, and after a trying voyage in the worst season 
of the year reached their destination on June 28. 
On this voyage General Pierce won the affection of 
his soldiers by his self-sacrifice and kindly considera- 
tion for them under the hard conditions of a troop- 
ship equipped by a war office with but little experi- 
ence in transporting troops. It was intensely hot 
when they landed at Vera Cruz, and was so hard on 
the men that numbers of them were soon in a state 
of collapse. It would not do to delay, and so the 
brigade at once made preparations to form a junction 
with General Scott at Puebla. The march from the 
sea coast was a difficult one, but was accomplished in 
such a manner as to win for General Pierce the 
warmest praise of his commander-in-chief. It had 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



23 



not been without its dangers, and on one occasion 
while the force was at a difficult point on the march 
a sudden attack was made by a guerilla band and 
General Pierce had two bullets pass through his hat. 

Two weeks after his arrival at Puebla he was to 
experience his first battle. The Mexican general, 
Valencia, had taken up a strong position at Contre- 
ras. It was Scott's intention to drive him from his 
intrenchments and at the same time cut off his re- 
treat. The fight at this place was one of the hardest 
in the war, and General Pierce remained in the 
thickest of it, despite the fact that early in the 
struggle, during a frontal attack, his horse had 
fallen, broken its leg and thrown its rider heavily, 
severely injuring his knee. He was in the saddle 
all day, and up at daylight on the following morn- 
ing, and ready to go in pursuit of the forces of Val- 
encia, who was in full flight on Churubusco, where 
Santa-Anna was with his main army. In the battle 
which was fought on this day he succumbed to the 
pain of his wound, and although he gallantly re- 
mained under fire was unable to take an active part 
in the final scenes of the fight. When he returned to 
his country and was chosen by the Democratic party 
to stand for the Presidency there were many evil- 
minded ones ready to attribute his action on this 
occasion to cowardice. But a braver man than 
Franklin Pierce never lived. The best testimony we 
have of the man in this war are the words of General 
Grant, no admirer of Pierce, and one who scorned 
untruth. 

" General Franklin Pierce," he writes, " had 
joined the army in Mexico, at Puebla, a short time 
before the advance on the Capital commenced. He 
had consequently not been in any of the engagements 



24 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of the war up to the battle of Contreras. By an un- 
fortunate fall of his horse on the afternoon of the 
19th (August, 1847) he was painfully injured. 
The next day when his brigade, with the other 
troops engaged on the same field, was ordered against 
the flank and rear of the enemy guarding the dif- 
ferent points of the road from San Augustin Tlalpan 
to the city, General Pierce attempted to accompany 
them. He was not sufficiently recovered to do so, 
and fainted. This circumstance gave rise to ex- 
ceedingly unfair and unjust criticisms of him when 
he became a candidate for the Presidency. What- 
ever General Pierce's qualifications may have been 
for the Presidency, he was a gentleman and a man 
of courage. I was not a supporter of him politi- 
cally, but I knew him more intimately than I did 
any of the other volunteer generals." 

In the peace negotiations which followed Contreras 
and Churubusco he was chosen one of the American 
commissioners ; but Santa-Anna was found to be in- 
sincere and the struggle began again, and General 
Pierce was to take part in the final great battles 
of the war, Molino del Pey, and Chapultepec, and at 
the capture of the City of Mexico on September 14. 
Prom first to last he proved himself an excellent 
soldier, brave and humane. 

Whether this war was just or otherwise is a ques- 
tion which is still open to debate, but one thing is 
certain, Pranklin Pierce believed he was fighting in 
a righteous cause. However, he was not loath to 
return to the quiet surroundings of his New Hamp- 
shire home. The people of his State appreciated his 
work in Mexico, and gave him a most enthusiastic 
reception on his return ; and the Legislature of 'New 
Hampshire, in which his voice had so often been 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



25 



heard, presented him with a sword of honour. 
He seemed, however, to have but one aim now, — 
to be a successful lawyer, — and until 1852 no 
more brilliant pleader was heard in the courts of his 
native State. His father had been called the most 
influential man in New Hampshire; his more dis- 
tinguished son soon became known as " the favorite 
son of New Hampshire." As the time came round 
for the nomination of the President for the elections 
of 1852 throughout his State he was freely spoken 
of as the most deserving citizen for the honour. His 
personal character, his political experience, and his 
war record all made him a popular choice, and when 
the Democratic State Convention of New Hampshire 
met in January, 1852, he was unanimously chosen as 
candidate for President. He, however, at this time 
had no thought of attempting to win the exalted 
office of President, and decidedly refused to allow 
his name to stand as the State representative. One 
of Franklin Pierce's leading traits was his excellent 
common sense. He knew his own limitations well, 
and recognised that although he could obtain any 
office he desired from the people of New Hampshire 
he was practically unknown to the country at large. 

When the Democratic Convention met at Balti- 
more on June 1, 1852, there were present men who 
still hoped that he might yet be the Democratic 
candidate, and only waited the opportunity to press 
his claim. There were many candidates in the field ; 
chief among them were the distinguished politicians 
Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, William L. Marcy, 
and Stephen A. Douglas. It was no easy matter, 
with so many good men to choose from, to come to a 
decision. There was at first no thought of Pierce, 
but on the fourth day of the Convention his name 



26 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



was brought up, and it was at once seen that he had 
many supporters both in the North and the South. 
It was not, however, until the forty-ninth ballot 
that he became the unanimous choice of the Demo- 
crats. The selection was a surprise to the leaders 
of his party and to the nation at large. Frederick 
Bancroft, in his life of William H. Seward, gives 
what were very probably the reasons for the ulti- 
mate choice falling on a man whose political career 
had not been peculiarly brilliant, and who had no 
great war record with which to appeal to the passions 
of the voters. 

" Before the Democratic convention met . . . 
a circular letter had been addressed to the leading 
candidates for nomination by that party, asking them 
to state their present and prospective attitudes to- 
wards the compromise. They hastened to make the 
most positive answers, even promising to veto any 
attempt on the part of Congress to weaken the 
fugitive-slave law. This over-pledging, together 
with the requirement of a two-thirds vote for a 
choice, resulted in the abandonment of the well- 
known leaders — Cass, Buchanan, Marcy and Doug- 
las — and the selection of the inconspicuous and un- 
pledged Franklin Pierce. William R. King, of Ala- 
bama, was named for the second place. The most 
important resolution in the platform promised to 
resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out 
of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under 
whatever shape or color the attempt may be made .. 
Although Pierce had served in the Legislature of 
ISTew Hampshire, in both Houses of Congress, and in 
the Mexican war, and was a lawyer of much more 
than average ability, he had no great reputation out- 
side his native State. He declared that the prin- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



27 



ciples of the platform commanded his approval, and 
that no word or act of his had been in conflict with 
them." 

Two weeks after his nomination the Whig party 
met at Baltimore to select a candidate. The choice 
lay between Fillmore, Webster and Scott. Webster 
was immeasurably the ablest man, but Scott was se- 
lected and Webster, the greatest of modern orators, 
a man whose glowing words had burned themselves 
on the hearts of thousands, and whose speeches have 
still power to stir the pulse of twentieth-century 
readers, left the convention a broken-hearted man. 
There is no sadder spectacle in American history 
than the bid made by the Whig party for power on 
this occasion; all suffered for their cowardice and 
littleness of soul, but chief among the sufferers was 
Daniel Webster. Goldwin Smith has said of him: 
" He who had been the stately champion of free- 
dom, of liberty of opinion, and of right, now, to 
attract Southern votes, stood forth as the defender 
of slavery, of the fugitive-slave law and the gag. He 
derided the anti-slavery doctrine as a ghostly abstrac- 
tion, and descended almost to buffoonery in ridicul- 
ing the idea of a law higher than that which or- 
dained the hunting down of fugitive bondsmen. 
His character, to which friends of freedom in the 
North had long looked up, fell with a crash like that 
of a mighty tree, of a lofty pillar, of a rock that 
for ages had breasted the waves. Some minds 
willing to be misled he still drew after him, but the 
best of his friends turned from him and his life 
ended in gloom." 

At the election which followed there were really 
no great issues dividing the parties. Whigs and 
Democrats were alike playing for the Southern vote. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



The South did not trust the Whigs, and it had per- 
fect confidence that the Democratic party would live 
up to its resolution to " resist all attempt at renew- 
ing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slav- 
ery question, under whatever shape or colour the at- 
tempts may be made." In the North Pierce was 
known as a man of clean hands, and from the begin- 
ning it was clear that his election was assured. 
Twenty-seven States stood by him with their two hun- 
dred and fifty-four electors, whereas the Whigs were 
able to carry but four States with forty-two electors, 
— and so the great Whig party disappeared from 
history. 

During the campaign there were no divisions or 
jealousies among the Democrats. The men who had 
been ambitious for the Presidency worked energet- 
ically for the election of Pierce. Marcy was one of 
the most active workers, although he had no very 
exalted opinion of the powers of Pierce. The fol- 
lowing extract from a letter to Buchanan immedi- 
ately after the nomination is an excellent indication 
of the esteem in which Pierce was held by his fellow 
politicians : 

" What do you think of the nomination of Gen- 
eral Pierce ? For our own State, I think it is about 
as well as any other that could have been made. I 
do not like to make an exception. We cannot make 
much out of his military services, but he is a like- 
able man, and has as much of ' Young America ? as 
we want." 

Buchanan had very much the same opinion, and in 
a letter to Mr. John Binns shows that he held Pierce 
but lightly. " General Pierce," he writes, " is a 
sound radical Democrat of the old JefTersonian 
School, and possesses highly respectable abilities. I 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



29 



think he is firm and energetic, without which no man 
is fit to be President. Should he fall into proper 
hands, he will administer the government wisely and 
well." When Buchanan faced the electors in Penn- 
sylvania, however, there was no note of doubt in his 
address in favour of Pierce and against General 
Scott. A portion of it, uttered to catch the crowd, is 
an excellent presentation of the character of Frank- 
lin Pierce. 

" The leopard cannot change his spots and why 
should we not all be united in support of Franklin 
Pierce ? It is his peculiar distinction, above all 
other public men within my knowledge, that he has 
never had occasion to take a single step backwards. 
What speech, vote, or sentiment of his whole political 
career has been inconsistent with the purest and 
strictest principles of Jeffersonian democracy? Our 
opponents, with all their vigilance and research, have 
not been able to discover a single one. His public 
character as a Democrat is above all exception. In 
supporting him, therefore, we shall do no more than 
sustain in his person our dear and cherished prin- 
ciples. 

" Our candidate, throughout his life, has proved 
himself to be peculiarly unselfish. The offices and 
honours which other men seek with so much eager- 
ness, have sought him only to be refused. He has 
either positively declined to accept, or has resigned 
the highest stations which the Federal government 
or his own State could bestow upon him. 

" Indeed, the public career of General Pierce is 
so invulnerable that it has been scarcely seriously as- 
saulted. Our political opponents have, therefore, in 
perfect desperation, been driven to defame his pri- 
vate character. At first, they denounced him as a 



30 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



drunkard, a friend of the infamous and anti-Catholic 
test in the Constitution of New Hampshire, and a 
coward. In what have these infamous accusations 
resulted? They have already recoiled upon their 
inventors. The poisoned chalice has been returned 
to their own lips. No decent man of the Whig party 
will now publicly venture to repeat these slanders. 

" Frank Pierce a coward ! That man a coward, 
who, when his country was involved in a foreign 
war, abandoned a lucrative and honourable profes- 
sion and all the sweets and comforts of domestic life 
in his own happy family, to become a private volun- 
teer in the ranks! And why a coward? 

" According to the testimony of General Scott 
himself, he was in such a sick, v/ounded, and en- 
feebled condition, that he was just able to keep his 
saddle ! Yet his own gallant spirit impelled him to 
lead his brigade into the bloody battle of Churubusco. 
But his exhausted physical nature was not strong 
enough to sustain the brave soul which animated it, 
and he sank insensible on the field in front of his 
brigade. Was this evidence of cowardice? These 
circumstances, so far from being an impeachment of 
his courage proved conclusively that he possesses 
that high quality in an uncommon degree. Almost 
any other man, nay, almost any other brave man, in 
his weak and disabled condition, would have re- 
mained in his tent; but the promptings of his gal- 
lant and patriotic spirit impelled him to rush into 
the midst of the battle. To what length will not 
party rancour and malignity proceed when such high 
evidences of indomitable courage are construed into 
proofs of cowardice ? How different was General 
Scott's opinion from that of the revilers of Franklin 
Pierce! It was on this very occasion that he con- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



31 



ferred on him the proud title of the 1 gallant Briga- 
dier-General Pierce V 

As a result of the weakness of the great Whig 
party and the solid support of the South with the 
best elements in the North, Franklin Pierce became 
President of the United States at a time when no 
great questions were agitating the people; but the 
air was heavy with trouble, and each day the bitter 
feeling between the North and the South was grow- 
ing more intense. It only needed a torch to make 
the greatest conflagration of the century. 



32 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE III. 

president franklin pierce (Concluded). 

Franklin Pierce had a busy winter after his 
election to the Presidency. His law business had 
grown to very great proportions, and he had to do 
a good deal of straightening out before going to 
Washington. During this winter he met with what 
was in many ways the greatest sorrow of his life. 
While on a short journey with his wife and son, a 
promising lad of thirteen, a railway accident, a very 
common thing in those days, occurred, and his boy 
was crushed to death. On this occasion he per- 
formed a characteristic act. His wife had not seen 
the tragedy, and her husband threw his cloak over 
the body of the boy to cover the ghastly sight from 
her gaze. It would be impossible not to like Frank- 
lin Pierce, no matter how much one might differ 
from him. 

He was inaugurated on March 4, and in his ad- 
dress showed, with no uncertain note, where he stood. 
He was a lover of the Union, a State Eights man, 
and spoke vigorously against the abolitionist move- 
ment, and expressed a hope that " no sectional or 
ambitious or fanatical excitement might again 
threaten the durability of our institutions, or obscure 
the light of our prosperity. " ~No doubt he deter- 
mined to do his duty to the Union, but unfortu- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



33 



nately, with all his goodness of heart, his vision was 
limited. He saw but one-half of the question. He 
recognized that the North by its agitation might 
bring about civil strife, but he did not seem to see 
that the Pro-slavery party of the South were deter- 
mined ultimately to make the whole of the Union 
a home for slavery, to legislate in the interests of 
the slave-holders, and by fair means or foul to main- 
tain and extend the right of ownership of human be- 
ings. He saw the institutions over which he was 
placed threatened, and without himself pronouncing 
in favour of slavery, he thought the remedy to be in 
submitting to the dictates of the Southern slave-hold- 
ers, who, while professing to wish to " let well enough 
alone " and to abide by the Missouri Compromise 
and the Compromise of 1850, were in reality on the 
watch to extend slave influence. It is impossible 
in commencing the consideration of the term of 
President Pierce, who by his anti-abolitionist atti- 
tude did much to prepare the way for the Civil war, 
not to recall the words of Jefferson, who, when his 
country was beginning her life as a nation, had pro- 
posed that slavery be abolished at the end of the cen- 
tury. Shortly after his proposal was voted down 
by a majority of an individual vote he declared that : 
" The voice of a single individual w T ould have pre- 
vented this abominable crime; Heaven will not 
always be silent ; the friends of the rights of human 
nature will in the end prevail." 

The voice of a single individual might have saved 
the nation in 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
was the torch being applied to the inflammable mater- 
ial in the South and the North, but the President 
alone was the individual who could have averted the 
calamity that was preparing for his country; but 
3 



34 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

in his narrow vision lie was unable to see where the 
wrong lay. He abetted the sin of slavery, and op- 
posed in season and out of season the efforts of the 
Abolitionists. However, there is one thing that can 
be said on his behalf, he was ever consistent and from 
the beginning to the end of his career " took no step 
backwards." 

Three days after his inauguration he announced 
his cabinet. It was found to have a decidedly 
Southern and pro-slavery complexion, but was a 
strong one. William L. Marcy, of New York, was 
his Secretary of State; James Guthrie, of Ken- 
tucky, Secretary of the Treasury; Jefferson Davis, 
of Mississippi, Secretary of War ; James C. Dobbin, 
of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy; Robert 
McClelland, of Michigan, Secretary of the Interior; 
James Campbell, of Pennsylvania, Postmaster-Gen- 
eral; and Caleb Gushing, of Massachusetts, Attor- 
ney-General. 

In December the President sent a message to Con- 
gress dealing with the Compromise of 1850 in which 
he showed how determined he was to prevent any 
change in the existing laws in favour of the anti- 
slavery movement. He had found the nation in a 
state of peace and this peace he declared in his mes- 
sage " is to suffer no shock during my term of office, 
if I have the power to avert it, those who placed me 
here may be assured." But peace meant acquies- 
cence in slave institutions as they then existed, and 
he might as well have endeavored to turn back Niag- 
ara as to stem the growing flood of anti-slavery prin- 
ciples. His attitude, however, on the Kansas-Ne- 
braska Bill, over which the pro-slavery and the anti- 
slavery parties began to struggle almost as soon as 
lie was installed in office at Washington, showed that 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



35 



lie was far from being impartial, and that his sympa- 
thies were decidedly with the South. While this is 
true he thought he was, and endeavored to be, without 
bias, and felt himself forced to take a strong stand 
against the Free-soilers on account of the fanaticism 
of the leaders in the abolition movement — a move- 
ment which he feared would end in the secession of 
the South. 

Pierce was scarcely familiar with the work of his 
high office before the initial movement of the storm, 
which finally terminated in the Civil war, began. 
Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, the " Little Giant, " 
was probably the most disappointed man among the 
many candidates who were rejected at the Baltimore 
Democratic Convention of 1852. He was not cast 
down by defeat, however, and at once looked about 
him for a way of bringing himself prominently be- 
fore the public and particularly before the South. 
Before Pierce became President of the United States 
a bill had been presented to the House for the organiz- 
ation of the Territory of Nebraska, but the bill failed 
and was laid on the table by a vote of twenty-three 
to seventeen. Douglas saw in the situation in 
Nebraska an excellent opportunity for bringing him- 
self before the nation and a sure means of ingratiat- 
ing himself with the Southerners. The Missouri 
Compromise, forbidding slavery north of 36 degrees 
30 minutes and the Compromise of 1850, making 
slavery optional in allnew States had left matters in a 
somewhat chaotic condition. After considerable 
modification he placed before the President his 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill which " pronounced the 
Missouri Compromise explicitly void and divided 
Nebraska into two territories, Nebraska and Kan- 
sas. It likewise established " squatter " sovereignty. 



36 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



The amendment to the original bill, by breaking 
down the anti-slavery law north of 36 degrees 30 
minutes, left the door open for bitter ' strife be- 
tween North and South. The anti-slavery barrier 
was, it declared, " Inconsistent with the principles of 
non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the 
States and Territories, as recognized by the Legis- 
lation of 1850 (commonly called the Compromise 
Measures)." It declared it " inoperative and void; 
it being the time intent and meaning of this act not 
to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor 
to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people there- 
of perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
institutions in their own way subject only to the 
Constitution. " After a hot and bitter debate the Bill 
passed the House on May 22, by 113 to 100, and the 
Senate on May 26, without a division. Four days 
later the President signed the bill and by that stroke 
of his pen hastened the Civil war. 

In a way his signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
was a brave act. He gained, it is true, the staunch 
support of the South, but the storm of abuse that 
had been levelled at Douglas and his bill in the North 
must have told him that by his action he would alien- 
ate his best friends, and that even his enthusiastic 
admirers in his own State would turn from him. He 
believed he was doing right, and hoped that the slav- 
ery question would now be forever settled. The 
Northerners thought the bill but a Southern plot 
to spread slavery throughout the entire country; 
Pierce believed that it would still be limited to the 
South, and that by making slavery a matter for the 
consideration of each State the Union would be more 
surely based than it had been at any time in the 
century. While he showed courage in signing the 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



37 



bill in the face of the Northern opposition he should 
have seen through the designs of Douglas and Jef- 
ferson Davis, and opposed it. That " The Little 
Giant " should propose such a measure, that it 
should receive the approval of Jefferson Davis, should 
have been sufficient to make him wary. Douglas 
was evidently bidding for the Southern vote, and Jef- 
ferson Davis, who had opposed the Compromise of 
1850, must have seen in the new measure a means 
of extending slavery. President Pierce's action 
caused him to be execrated in the North; only one 
man, Senator Douglas, received more abuse. 

The bill, however, was signed and the struggle 
began in Kansas. The anti-slavery party rushed 
emigrants into the State and founded towns ; and the 
pro-slavery men of Missouri were equally active. 
Andrew II. Reeder was appointed Governor of Kan- 
sas, and as Reeder had anti-slavery tendencies this 
should have been sufficient to show that Pierce had 
no intention of giving Kansas into the hands of the 
pro-slavery party. Almost at once civil strife be- 
gan. At the election which followed toughs were 
rushed across the border from Missouri with revolvers 
and bowie knives in their hands to deposit their votes 
against the Abolitionists. The fraudulent character 
of the election was so evident that Governor Reeder, 
a fair-minded man with but little backbone, refused 
to ratify the election, but he was forced to do so in 
many cases at the revolver's point. Reeder was re- 
called, but there was no cessation in the strife. The 
Missouri mob was determined to have their way. 
Their leaders had said they would " enter every elec- 
tion district in Kansas, and vote at the point of the 
bowie knife and revolver. Neither give or take 
quarter as our case demands it. It is enough that 



38 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the slave-holding interests will it, — from which 
there is no appeal.' 7 They succeeded by this means 
in electing a pro-slavery legislature, and this bogus 
legislature the Pierce government recognized. 

The Free-soilers were not to be outdone and vigor- 
ously battled against the Missouri mob. They 
passed a resolution against the " bandits of Mis- 
souri," declaring " that the body of men who for the 
past two months had been passing laws for the peo- 
ple of our Territory, moved, counselled, and dictated 
to by the demagogues of Missouri, are to us a foreign 
body representing only the lawless invaders who 
elected them, and not the people of the Territory. 
That we repudiate their actions as the monstrous 
consummation of an act of violence, usurpation and 
fraud, unparalleled in the history of the Union." 
Their petition to the Federal government was un- 
heeded. The President issued a proclamation declar- 
ing " that the legislature must be recognized as the 
legitimate legislature of Kansas; that its laws were 
binding on the people, and that, if necessary, the whole 
force of the government's army would be rallied to en- 
force those laws." Pierce in this proclamation stood 
on the letter of the Constitution and acted in, what he 
considered, the best interests of the Union, but in 
taking the stand he did he practically ended his 
career as a statesman. That he was firmly convinced 
that the danger to the Union lay from the fanaticism 
of the anti-slavery party and not from the South is 
evidenced from his letter written to Jefferson Davis 
as late as January 18, 1860. 

" Without discussing the question of right, or ab- 
stract power to secede I have never believed that ac- 
tual disruption of the Union can occur without blood- 
shed ; and if, through the madness of Northern Abo- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



39 



litionists, that dire calamity must come, the fighting 
will not he along Mason and Dixon's line merely, it 
will be within our own borders, in our own streets, 
between the two classes of citizens to whom I have 
referred ... I have tried to impress upon 
our own people, especially in 2sTew Hampshire and 
Connecticut, where the only elections are to take 
place during the coming spring, that, while our Union 
meetings are all in the right direction and well enough 
for the present, they will not be worth the paper 
upon which their resolutions are written unless we 
can overthrow abolitionism at the poles and repeal 
the unconstitutional and obnoxious laws which in 
the cause of ' personal liberty ' have been placed upon 
our statute books." 

After this letter it would be impossible to doubt 
that throughout his whole presidential career he had 
acted conscientiously. He saw in the Abolitionist 
movement elements that tended to the disruption of 
the Union. He took his stand on the constitution, and 
as he was never filled with horror at the abomina- 
tion of slavery he had no sympathy with the move- 
ment against it in the JSTorth. The times needed a 
strong far-seeing man; a great crisis was approach- 
ing and had the right man, a Washington, or a Lin- 
coln, been at the head of affairs at the time of the 
Kansas difficulties the bloody Civil war might have 
been averted ; but the encouragement the slave-holders 
received from Pierce and his successor Buchanan 
made them confident. 

It must have seemed to the leaders of the pro- 
slavery party that the President and his ministers 
had deliberately entered into their plot to defeat the 
Pree-soilers in Kansas. It had been proved beyond 
a doubt that the most corrupt practices were used to 



40 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



elect the Territorial legislature, that Reeder's cer- 
tificates of " duly elected " had been forced from 
him, that the electors were not bona fide citizens of 
Kansas for the most part; but the President would 
not listen to the fanatical agitation, as he deemed it, 
of the anti-slavery movement. Instead of making 
any effort to do Kansas justice he declared that he 
would " exert the whole power of the Federal Execu- 
tive to support public order in the Territory " (which 
meant the supremacy of the pro-slavery party), " to 
vindicate its laws, whether Federal or local, against 
all attempts of organized resistance ; and so to pro- 
tect its people in the establishment of their own in- 
stitutions, undisturbed by encroachments from with- 
out, and in the enjoyment of the rights of self-gov- 
ernment, assured to them by the Constitution and 
the organic act of Congress." As Frederic Bancroft 
says in his Life of Seivard : " This was understood 
as a pledge to ' vindicate ' the pro-slavery party and 
suppress the free-state opposition, if possible." 

The real effect of the President's attitude was to 
intensify the hatred between the North and the 
South, to hasten the Civil war, which he saw would 
almost inevitably be the outcome of this struggle, 
by making the South over-confident and by rousing 
the most apathetic in the North to take a stand 
against the injustice being done in the name of the 
Constitution to their friends in Kansas. 

This struggle in Kansas was the most important 
event of President Pierce's term of office. There 
can be little doubt that the Bill of which it was the 
outcome, was conceived by Douglas in a spirit of 
ambition ; but history has proved that it was sanc- 
tioned by Pierce without selfish motives, and with 
the hope of forever settling the slave difficulty. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



41 



Stephen A. Douglas in a speech delivered at Spring- 
field, Illinois, June 10, 1857, (on the Kansas and 
' Squatter Sovereignty') very well voices the position 
of Pierce on this question. So far as Douglas him- 
self was concerned he deliberately played into the 
hands of the South with the hope that when the time 
for the nomination of the next president came round 
he would be the choice of the rich and influential 
slave-holders. 

" The organic act secures to the people of Kansas," 
he said, " the sole and exclusive right of forming 
and regulating their domestic institutions to suit 
themselves, subject to no other limitation than that 
which the Constitution imposes. The Democratic 
party is determined to see the great fundamental 
principles of the organic act carried out in good faith. 
The present election law in Kansas is acknowledged 
to be fair and just, the rights of the voters are clearly 
defined and the exercise of those rights will be effi- 
ciently and scrupulously protected. Hence, if the 
majority of the people of Kansas desire to have it a 
free State (and we are told by the Republican party 
that nine-tenths of that Territory are free-statemen), 
there is no obstacle in the way of bringing Kansas in- 
to the Union as a free State, by the vote and voice of 
our own people, and in conformity with the princi- 
ples of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, provided all the 
free Statesmen will go to the poles and vote their 
principles in accordance with their professions. If 
such is not the result, let the consequences be visited 
upon the heads of those whose policy it is to produce 
strife, anarchy, and bloodshed in Kansas, that their 
party may profit by slavery agitation in the North- 
ern States of this Union. That the Democrats in 
Kansas will perform their duties fearlessly and nobly 



V 



42 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



according to the principle they cherish I have no 
doubt; and that the result of the struggle will be 
such as will gladden the heart and strengthen the 
hopes of every friend of the Union, I have every con- 
fidence." 

As a result of this Bill, conceived in ambition, 
and nurtured in ignorance, " strife, anarchy, and 
bloodshed " continued in Kansas and did not cease 
till the continent was deluged with blood. However 
out of it all good came: strong men were brought 
forth, a difficult question was forever settled, and to 
the people of the Union was given a national pride 
and spirit which a great war and the sacrifices it en- 
tails alone seem able to create. 

While this struggle was taking place in America, 
England and France had taken up arms against Rus- 
sia and the Crimean war was at its height. England 
needed recruits, and Mr. Crampton the British Min- 
ister to the United States had been a partner to re- 
cruiting soldiers for the British army. With com- 
mendable promptness Pierce demanded that Mr. 
Crampton be recalled, and when the British govern- 
ment failed to take action he very properly " dis- 
missed the Minister, and the British Consuls at ISTew 
York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati for their com- 
plicity in such enlistments.' ' The British govern- 
ment recognized the justice of President Pierce's 
course and Mr. Crampton was recalled. 

This was not the only cause for bitter feeling be- 
tween England and the United States during Presi- 
dent Pierce's term of office. The Monroe Doctrine 
and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, of which so much 
has been heard during the past decade, were playing 
an important part in international affairs in the 
fifties. Great Britain maintained that the Clayton- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



43 



Bulwer Treaty in no way restricted her previous 
claims in America. " She continued to insist that 
the treaty was only prospective and did not affect 
any of her possessions at the time of its adoption." 
For a time it looked as if war would be declared be- 
tween England and the United States, but fortunately 
the war cloud blew over. Throughout this dispute 
President Pierce showed great firmness, and war was 
only averted by England conceding to his demands. 
Had war broken out at that time the whole course 
of history might have been changed; in a common 
cause the North and South might have seen the need 
of standing shoulder to shoulder instead of flying at 
each other's throats; and the United States might 
have been forced, in the middle of the century, to 
take her place in European politics instead of wait- 
ing till the last decade of the century to be known as 
an imperial power. 

During this presidential term, too, Cuba was to 
play an important part. The nearness of Spanish 
rule to the United States was obnoxious even then 
to the people of America. There was a feeling that 
the island should be brought into the Union, and to 
bring matters to a head James Buchanan, Minister 
to England, John G. Mason, Minister to France, 
and Pierre Soule, Minister to Spain, met at Ostend 
to endeavor to come to some conclusion with regard 
to Cuba. As a result of their conference they issued 
their famous " Ostend Letter " which, while lacking 
diplomatic fineness, showed Europe that the people 
of the young republic over the ocean were not lacking 
in self-assurance. 

" But if Spain," they said, " deaf to the voice of 
her own interests, and actuated by a stubborn pride 
and a false sense of honour, should refuse to sell 



44 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Cuba to the United States then the question would 
arise, what ought to be the course of the American 
government under such circumstances? Self-pres- 
ervation, is the first law of nature with States as 
well as with individuals. All nations have at differ- 
ent periods acted on this maxim. . . . The 
United States has never acquired a foot of territory 
except by fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, 
upon the free and voluntary application of the people 
of that independent State, who desired to blend their 
destinies with our own. Even our acquisitions from 
Mexico are no exception to the rule, because, although 
we might have claimed them by the right of conquest, 
in a just war, yet we purchased them for what was 
then considered by both parties a full and ample 
equivalent. Our past history forbids that we should 
acquire the island of Cuba without the consent of 
Spain, unless justified by the great law of self-pres- 
ervation. We must in any event, preserve our own 
conscious rectitude and our own self-respect. 

" While pursuing this course, we can afford to 
disregard the censure of the world, to which we have 
been so often and so unjustly exposed. After we 
shall have offered Spain a price for Cuba far beyond 
its present value, and this shall have been refused, it 
will then be time to consider the question, does Cuba 
in the possession of Spain seriously endanger our 
internal peace and the existence of our cherished 
Union ? Should this question be answered in the af- 
firmative, then, by every law, human and divine, we 
should be justified in rescuing it from Spain if we 
possess the power. And this, upon the very same 
principle that would justify an individual in tearing 
down the burning house of his neighbor if there were 
no other means of preventing the flames from destroy- 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



45 



ing his own home. Under such circumstances, we 
ought neither to count the cost nor regard the odds 
which Spain might enlist against us." 

This was too much for President Pierce and Cuba 
was to rest in statu quo for some years, torn and tor- 
tured by absolutism and rebellion. It was well that 
it should be so. The United States had first to set- 
tle her own sectional difficulties before beginning her 
imperial career. Had she taken over Cuba in 1854 
she would very probably have been plunged into a 
long and cruel war on that island. It was best that 
Spain should continue to torture poor Cuba till the 
world was forced to recognize the justice of American 
interference, and till the United States had reached 
that high state of civilization that makes her the 
most worthy of all the nations to take up " the white 
man's burden." 

While Pierce held office he had to deal with several 
other questions of importance. A reciprocity treaty 
w T ith Canada was signed by Lord Elgin and William 
L. Marcy, June 5, 1854, which " provided for a free 
exchange of the products of the sea, the fields, the 
forests and the mine. It admitted Americans to the 
rich Canadian fisheries and to the advantages of 
Canadian river and canal navigation. . . Its 
provisions were to remain in force for ten years, 
after which either party to the agreement was left 
free to end it by giving one year's notice." Japan 
that mysterious little kingdom in the Eastern seas 
opened her doors to American trade during the same 
term and began the career that was to make her the 
one Eastern nation to win the respect of the great 
Powers, and, indeed, in time to take her place among 
them. 

It will be noted how important this presidential 



±6 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



term was. It paved the way for the Civil war, it 
brought prominently before the world the Monroe 
Doctrine and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, it directed 
the eyes of the nation towards Cuba, it established a 
treaty with Canada which tended towards the com- 
mercial union of the continent, it encouraged trans- 
atlantic traffic, — and in every situation Franklin 
Pierce proved himself firm and wise, save in the mat- 
ter of the Kansas-Nebraska trouble. 

He had taken his stand in every case on the Consti- 
tution, and as a result had made many bitter enemies 
in the North and had lost much of his hold on the 
South. At the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, 
June 2, 1856, although he had many supporters it 
soon became evident that his party did not think 
him capable of carrying the country and after spirited 
balloting between James Buchanan, who had been 
abroad during the Kansas-Nebraska struggle, and 
Stephen A. Douglas, who had fathered the obnoxious 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Buchanan was, on the seven- 
teenth ballot, on the fifth clay of the Convention, 
unanimously declared the nominee of the Demo- 
crats. 

When his term of office closed ex-President Pierce 
retired to his Concord home. Many of the men who 
had sworn by him when he went as President to 
Washington, now turned from him with intense 
hatred, but he kept on his way " unshaked of mo- 
tion " warning the nation of the maelstrom of war 
into which it was drifting and still blaming the Aboli- 
tionists for causing the bitter strife. 

When at length the Southern States began to 
secede, and when the voice of war was heard in the 
land the noble, patriotic nature of the man made it- 
self evident to all. He was a Unionist, and to the 



FKANKLIN PIERCE. 



citizens of New Hampshire lie delivered a speech for 
the Union and against secession with all his old time 
vigour. He had favored the South until this crisis 
was reached, but now that the Southerners had drawn 
the sword and threatened to sever the nation in twain 
he would prove his consistency by standing by the 
Union. He lived long enough to see the Union tri- 
umph and his country rising from the horrors of 
civil strife to begin again her great career of com- 
mercial prosperity, without a parallel in the history 
of the world. His declining years were happy and 
peaceful and when he died on October 8, 1869, he 
was genuinely mourned by a host of admiring 
friends. And he was worthy of their love. He had 
sustained defeats, the loss of friends, the loss of his 
children, the death of his wife with a calmness which 
showed a well poised character and a life with a lofty 
ideal and lofty hopes. 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

president james buchakan. 
(One Administration, 1857-1861.) 

James Buchanan was in many ways like his 
immediate predecessor in the Presidency, Franklin 
Pierce. He was a man of fine manners, of noble 
appearance, a professed lover of the Constitution and 
the Union; but a believer in what the pro-slavery 
party claimed to be their rights, a more thorough be- 
liever than Pierce, and such a man was the worst pos- 
sible, as events proved, to be at the head of affairs 
at the critical time when Kansas was in a state of tur- 
moil and the difficulties there were hurrying the na- 
tion into civil strife. 

Scarcely had the great war of the Revolution been 
definitely brought to a close by the signing of the 
Treaty of Paris by David Hartley for Great Britain 
and by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John 
J ay for the United States than the eyes of the strug- 
gling toilers on the European side of the Atlantic 
were turned across the stormy ocean; and, despite 
the terrors of the long voyage, thousands made prep- 
arations to leave the hard conditions under which 
they toiled in the old world to seek homes for them- 
selves in the wildernesses of the new. 

Among the first of the immigrants to come to the 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



49 



United States after the Kevolutionary war was 
James Buchanan, the father of the fifteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, a sturdy young Scotch- 
Irish farmer from the County of Donegal. With re- 
gard to this man and his wife an excellent account 
has been left the world in an autobiographical sketch 
by their illustrious son, which is as much a revelation 
of the character of President Buchanan as of his 
parents. 

" My father, James Buchanan," he writes, " was 
a native of the County Donegal, in the Kingdom of 
Ireland. His family was respectable; but their 
pecuniary circumstances were limited. He emi- 
grated to the United States before the date of the 
definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, having 

sailed from in the brig " Providence," bound 

for Philadelphia, in 1783. He was then in the 
twenty-second year of his age. Immediately after 
his arrival in Philadelphia, he proceeded to the house 
of his maternal uncle, Mr. Joshua Bussell, in York 
County. After spending a short time there, he be- 
came an assistant in the store of Mr. John Tom, at 
Stony Batter, a country place at the foot of the ISTorth 
Mountain, then in Cumberland (now in Pranklin 
County). 

" He commenced business for himself, about the 
beginning of the year 178S ; and on the 16th of April 
in the same year, was married to Elizabeth Speer. 
My father was a man of practical judgment, and of 
great industry and perseverance. He had received 
a good English education, and had that kind of 
knowledge of mankind which prevented- him from 
being ever deceived in his business. With these qual- 
ifications, with the facility of obtaining goods on 
credit at Baltimore at that early period, and with 
4 



50 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the advantages of his position, it being one of a very 
few spots where the people of the Western counties 
came with pack horses loaded with wheat to purchase 
and carry home salt and other necessities, his circum- 
stances soon improved. He bought the Dunwoodie 
farm for £1500 in 1794, and had previously pur- 
chased the property on which he resided at the Cove 
Gap. 

" I was born at this place on the 23rd of April, 
1791, being my father's second child. My father 
moved from the Cove Gap to Mercersburg, a dis- 
tance of between three and four miles, in the autumn 
of 1796 and began business in Mercersburg in the 
autumn of 1798. For some years before his death, 
which occurred on the 11th of June, 1821, he had 
quite a large mercantile business, and devoted much 
of his time and attention to superintending his farm, 
of which he was very fond. He was a man of great 
native force of character. Pie was not only re- 
spected, but loved by everybody who approached him. 
In his youth, he held the commission of a justice of 
the peace; but finding himself so overrun with the 
business of this office as to interfere with his private 
affairs, he resigned his commission. A short time 
before his death, he again received a commission of 
the peace from Governor Hiester. He was a kind 
father, a sincere friend, and an honest and religious 
man. 

" My mother, considering her limited opportunities 
in early life, was a remarkable woman. The daugh- 
ter of a country farmer, engaged in household em- 
ployment from early life until after my father's 
death, she yet found time to read much, and to re- 
flect deeply on what she read. She had a great 
fondness for poetry, m& could repeat with ease all 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



51 



the passages in her favorite authors which struck her 
fancy. These were Milton, Pope, Young, Cowper, 
and Thomson. I do not think, at least until a late 
period of her life, she had ever read a criticism on 
any one of these authors, and yet such was the cor- 
rectness of her natural taste that she had selected for 
herself, and could repeat, every passage in them 
which has been admired. 

" She was a sincere and devoted Christian from 
the time of my earliest recollection, and had read 
much on the subject of theology; and what she read 
once, she remembered forever. For her sons, as 
they successively grew up, she was a delightful and 
instructive companion. She would argue with them, 
and often gain the victory ; ridicule them in any folly 
or eccentricity; excite their ambition, by presenting 
to them in glowing colours men who had been useful 
to their country or their kind, as objects of imitation, 
and enter into all their joys and sorrows. Her earli- 
est habits of laborious industry, she could not be in- 
duced to forego — whilst she had anything to do. My 
father did everything he could to prevent her from 
laboring in her domestic concerns, but it was all in 
vain. I have often, during the vacations at school 
or college, sat in the room with her, and whilst she 
was (entirely from her choice) busily engaged in 
homely domestic employments, have spent hours 
pleasantly and instructively in conversing with her. 
She was a woman of great firmness of character and 
bore the afflictions of her later life with Christian 
philosophy. After my father's death, she lost her 
two sons, William and George Washington, two 
young men of great promise, and a favorite daughter. 
These afflictions withdrew her affections gradually 
more and more from the things of this world— and 



52 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



she died on the 14th of May, 1833, at Greensburg, 
in the calm but firm assurance that she was going 
home to her Father and her God. It was chiefly to 
her influence that her sons were indebted for a lib- 
eral education. Under Providence, I attribute any 
little distinction which I may have acquired in the 
world to the blessing which lie conferred on me in 
granting me such a Mother." 

The Buchanans determined that at least James, of 
their large family, should have a good education. 
He received the rudiments of his scholarship at Mer- 
cersburg and showed so much promise that great 
things were expected from him when he went to Dick- 
inson College in his sixteenth year. He was at first, 
like Franklin Pierce, something of a disappointment 
to his friends. The age was a peculiarly boisterous 
one and college life was what might be termed fast. 
James Buchanan with all his gentleness of disposi- 
tion seems at first to have thought more of enjoyment 
and fun than of study ; with the result that he drew 
on himself the anger of the authorities and when the 
long vacation came round a request was sent to his 
father not to send him back. But his father had 
faith in him and used special efforts with the head of 
the college to have him given another chance. For 
the remainder of his course he proved himself an ex- 
cellent student, and as a platform speaker was with- 
out an equal in his college. 

He graduated in 1809 and at once began the study 
of lav/. He recognized that law was to be to him 
not only a bread-winner, but a gateway to a career, 
and he applied himself industriously to the dry tomes 
he found in the office of Mr. Hopkins. 

" I determined," he afterwards wrote, " that if 
severe application would make me a good lawyer, I 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



53 



should not fail in this particular; and I can say 
with truth, that I have never known a harder student 
than I was at that period of my life. I studied 
law and nothing but law, or what was essentially 
connected with it. I took pains to understand thor- 
oughly, as far as I was capable, everything which I 
read; and in order to fix it upon my memory and 
give myself the habit of extempore speaking, I almost 
every evening took a lonely walk and embodied the 
ideas which I had acquired during the day in my own 
language. This gave me a habit of extempore speak- 
ing, and that not merely words but things. I derived 
great improvement from this practice." 

In 1812, when but twenty-one years old, he began 
the practice of law in Lancaster. Although so young 
he had already decided views on political questions 
and was a pronounced Federalist. The year of his 
majority found his country on the eve of war. He 
looked upon the War of 1812 as one that should have 
been avoided, and was opposed to it for a time, even 
during the reverses of 1812 and 1813 ; but in 1814 
a black hour came to his country. The summer of 
that year saw a British fleet threatening his native 
land, and a British army on his native soil. In 
August after the fight of Bladensburg the British 
General Ross captured Washington and burned its 
public buildings. Of this incident, Green the great 
English historian remarks : " Few more shameful 
acts are recorded in our history ; and it was the more 
shameful in that it was done under strict orders from 
the government at home." 

This deed, and the fact that both Baltimore and 
Philadelphia were in danger of a similar fate, roused 
the young lawyer of Lancaster. A public meeting 
was held in the town to consider the situation and at 



54 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



this meeting James Buchanan made his first public 
address. He was a Federalist and he had been op- 
posed to the war, but the duty of every citizen was 
now clear; the invader must be beaten back. His 
words roused his fellow-townsmen and volunteers 
readily responded to the call to serve in a company 
of the dragoons which was to be sent to Baltimore to 
help protect that city. James Buchanan was the 
first to enrol his name, and for several months served 
in the ranks. 

His patriotic speech was remembered, and when 
in the autumn it was necessary to select men for the 
Pennsylvania House of Representatives he was 
elected by the voters of Lancaster County. Although 
but twenty-three years old he proved himself an able 
debater and in his remarks on several important ques- 
tions showed that he had a thorough grasp of the 
great issues of his time. 

He soon wearied of political life and devoted the 
whole of his energies to the practice of law and 
rapidly gained distinction as an erudite and brilliant 
lawyer. During these early years of his life he won 
the heart of Ann C. Coleman, but the engagement 
was broken through some misrepresentations with 
regard to his character, and when shortly afterwards 
Miss Coleman died he almost collapsed under the 
blow. The intensity of the man's nature is shown 
in his correspondence at this time and in the fact 
that he remained unwedded, faithful to the memory 
of his early love. " I would like," he wrote, " to 
convince the world that she is infinitely dearer to me 
than life ? I may sustain the shock of her death, but 
I feel that happiness has fled from me forever." 

His growing law practice saved him. He became 
absorbed in his work, and by the time he was thirty 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



55 



had amassed a goodly fortune. In 1821, he was 
elected to Congress and for ten years proved himself 
an able and wise worker in that body. He was a 
frequent speaker, and was listened to with pleasure 
by an audience familiar with the golden words of 
Daniel Webster. His law practice naturally suffered 
greatly through politics, and in 1831 he had decided 
to retire altogether from political life, although at 
this time he was much spoken of as a candidate for 
the Vice-Presidency, when an urgent request from 
President Jackson, whose admiration and confidence 
he had won, made him decide to go as Minister to 
Russia to succeed John Randolph. 

The appointment was a good one and Buchanan's 
suavity of manners, his dignity of character and 
good judgment did much to make America appre- 
ciated by the Russians and to bring about better trade 
relations between his country and the country of the 
Czar. 

Shortly after he had settled in St. Petersburg, he 
received word of the death of his brother Greorge, a 
young man of infinite promise. James Buchanan 
took his brother's death much to heart and in a letter 
to his brother Edward on this matter reveals another 
side of his character. 

a St. Petersburg, 
Jan. 9th, K S., 1832. 

"My Dear Brother : — 

" I have received your three letters of the 10th and 
25th of September and of the 12th November: the 
first on the 21st October, the second not till the 2nd 
inst., and the last on the 28th December. You will 
thus perceive that the one announcing the death of 
poor George had a very long passage, having got out 
of the usual line and lain at Paris a considerable time. 



56 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



I had heard of this melancholy event long before its 
arrival. How consoling it is to reflect that he had 
made his peace with heaven before he departed from 
earth. All men desire to die the death of the right- 
eous ; but a large portion of the human race are un- 
willing to lead their life. I can say sincerely for my- 
self that I desire to be a Christian, and I think I 
could withdraw from the vanities and follies of the 
world without suffering many pangs. I have thought 
much upon the subject since my arrival in this 
strange land, and sometimes almost persuade myself 
that I am a Christian ; but I am often haunted by the 
spirit of skepticism and doubt : ' Lord, I would be- 
lieve ; help thou my unbelief, yet I am far from being 
an unbeliever/ " 

Neither these words nor the words written at the 
time of the death of Miss Coleman are the utterances 
of a strong man. A sweet, a lovable character Bu- 
chanan ever was, but he lacked spiritual robustness, 
the thing most needed in a leader of men. Julian 
Hawthorne, in his unsympathetic study of Buchanan 
in his History of the United States, has called him 
a sort of " soft-natured snob." This is unjust ; he 
lacked force and fire, lacked on some questions firm- 
ness and decision, but a snob he was not. 

When Buchanan returned to the United States, 
in 1833, it was with the consciousness of having done 
his duty well and with the approval of the President 
and the nation for the course he had pursued. Sen- 
ator Wilkins was appointed Minister to Russia and 
Buchanan was elected by the State Legislature to 
fill the vacancy made in the Senate by this appoint- 
ment. He was now to come very prominently be- 
fore the country as one of its great politicians. He 
was throughout his senatorial career a staunch sup- 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



57 



porter of President Jackson, and frequently crossed 
swords with such brilliant Whigs as Clay, Webster, 
Clayton, Ewing, and Frelinghuysen. 

While in the Senate he had an opportunity of 
showing where he stood on the slavery question, and 
however much he was to blame for the deplorable con- 
dition in which the Union found itself when the 
Southern States began to secede he was consistent on 
this question throughout his entire life. He had very 
much the view that Pierce had had of the Abolition- 
ists. When dealing in the Senate with two Mem- 
orials from Ohio concerning the abolition of slavery 
he spoke of the Abolitionists as " desperate fanatics " 
who were issuing "incendiary pamphlets and papers." 
The Quakers of Pennsylvania had likewise memorial- 
ized Congress on this burning question, and had sent 
their petition to President Buchanan for presenta- 
tion. For a time he withheld the memorial, and when 
at length he did present it made it the occasion for 
expressing his views on slavery in its relation to the 
Constitution. 

" If any one principle of constitutional law can, 
at this day be considered as settled, it is, that Con- 
gress has no power, no right, over the question of 
slavery in those States where it exists. The prop- 
erty of the master in his slave existed in full force 
before the Federal Constitution was adopted. It was 
a subject which then belonged, as it still belongs, to 
the exclusive jurisdiction of the several States. These 
States, by the adoption of the Constitution, never 
yielded to the general government any right to inter- 
fere with the question. It remains where it was 
previous to the establishment of our Confederacy. 

" The Constitution has, in the clearest terms, rec- 
ognized the right of property in slaves. It prohibits 



58 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



any State into which a slave may have fled from pass- 
ing any law to discharge him from slavery, and de- 
clares that he shall be delivered up by the authorities 
of such States to his master. ISTay more it makes 
the existence of slavery the foundation of political 
power, by giving to those States within which it ex- 
ists, representatives from Congress, not only in pro- 
portion to the number of free persons, but also in 
proportion to three-fifths of the number of slaves." 
While speaking thus he declared that on the abstract 
question of slavery his views were the same as the 
petitioners. 

His State had confidence in him and he was re- 
elected in 1837. He continued to attract the atten- 
tion of the leaders of the government, and as a result 
was offered the position of Attorney-General in the 
cabinet of Martin Yan Buren, but this position he 
refused. In 1843 he was elected a third time to the 
Senate of the United States, and throughout his State 
he was much spoken of as a possible strong candidate 
for the Presidency. His attitude on slavery had at- 
tracted to him many Southern men, and his sober 
attitude on the right of petition, a matter on which, 
as has been pointed out, Pierce showed lamentable 
weakness, made him friends in the North. While 
in the Senate he had to pronounce on many critical 
questions. He opposed the Webster- Ashburton 
Treaty, and strongly favored the annexation of Texas 
with the hope that it might be divided into slave 
States " to afford that serenity to the Southern and 
South-western States which they have a right to de- 
mand." 

He had now been in the United States Senate 
under no fewer than four Presidents, Jackson, Yan 
Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



59 



He had won for himself the reputation of being a 
fair-minded, courteous politician; but with the elec- 
tion of President Polk and his own appointment as 
Secretary of State he seems to have become an active 
partisan. On the defeat of the Democratic party by 
the Whigs under the leadership of General Zachary 
Taylor, Buchanan retired to his country seat. Wheat- 
lands. So far his record was a fair one; he had 
made but few mistakes, and was esteemed by all 
classes, even his political opponents. Although some- 
thing of a trimmer on the great questions agitating 
the nation there- was no doubt as to his attitude. He 
was a staunch upholder of the Monroe Doctrine, he 
had stood by the sacred right of petition, and, as he 
said, the older he grew the more he was inclined to 
be what is called a State Rights man. He could 
not, however, keep long out of politics. He approved 
of the Compromise of 1850 and of the Fugitive Slave 
Laws. When he with Cass and Marcy and Douglas 
were set aside by the Democratic National Conven- 
tion which met at Baltimore to choose a nominee for 
the Presidency, for the little known Franklin Pierce, 
he became his most active and probably his most in- 
fluential supporter. 

In 18 53, when Pierce became installed in the White 
House he appointed Buchanan Minister to England. 
A better choice could not have been made ; his Rus- 
sian experience, his suavity and polish all made him 
a peculiarly well equipped personage to send to the 
chief of the European Courts. 

While the principal work Mr. Buchanan had to do 
in London was " to develop and ascertain the precise 
difficulties between the two governments in regard 
to the construction of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty," 
his residence in England is memorable chiefly for 



60 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



two things, — the ridiculous discussion as to how an 
American Minister should appear at Court, and the 
somewhat astounding Ostend Manifesto. 

The Secretary of State, William L. Marcy, 
had proclaimed that the diplomatic agents of the 
United States were to wear only " the simple dress 
of an American citizen." This circular to the diplo- 
matic agents was the occasion of a good many jocular 
remarks at the time, as to what was the dress of an 
American citizen, and of considerable embarrassment 
to the courts and the American Ministers. It looked 
for a time as though a frock coat was to stop all in- 
ternational relations. But the wise ones trained in 
European diplomacy put their heads together and a 
" compromise " was effected. Buchanan could wear 
the simple dress of an American citizen, but he must 
so far conform to court usage as to wear at the same 
time a sword ; and so he appeared before Her Majesty 
in " a black coat, white waistcoat and cravat, and 
black pantaloons and dress boots, with the addition 
of a very plain black-hilted dress sword." Mr. Bu- 
chanan would have been more admirable had he re- 
fused to wear the sword, even if he had run the risk 
of being mistaken for one of the " upper court ser- 
vants." 

During his residence in England James Buchanan 
was a general favorite and by his attitude on the in- 
ternational questions that arose won the esteem and 
confidence of his country. He returned home early 
in the year 1856, and, although he had at the time 
little thought of the Presidency, the public welcome 
he received when he arrived in New York and the 
enthusiasm with which he was everywhere greeted 
made him turn his eyes towards Washington, but he 
put forth no strenuous efforts to secure the nomina- 
tion for President. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



61 



CHATER V. 

president james buchanan" (Concluded.) 

On June 2, 1856, the National Democratic Con- 
vention met in Cincinnati to select a nominee for 
President. There were four strong men in the field, 
— Buchanan, Pierce, Douglas, and Cass. Cass, al- 
though an able man, had but few supporters ; Douglas 
had many friends present, but as he had taken the 
initiative in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, he had made a 
host of bitter enemies in the North ; Pierce had still 
a large following, but it was evident to many of the 
candidates that his attitude on the Kansas-Nebraska 
question would keep him from being sent to Washing- 
ton for a second term; Buchanan's friends had not 
the organization of the other candidates and he him- 
self had displayed no eagerness for the nomination, 
however, it was very soon recognized that he was the 
man most likely to keep his party in power. 

None of the other candidates had as clean a rec- 
ord before the country. He had helped four Presi- 
dents to office, and had done more than possibly any 
other man in the country to elect Polk and Pierce. 
The Democrats needed Pennsylvania and James 
Buchanan was the one man capable of keeping that 
important State in line. His career abroad had 
been a brilliant one. He was probably the ablest 
Minister who had served in Europe during the cen- 
tury, and in his dealings with Russia and England 



62 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



had shown a firmness and wisdom that augured well 
for his country if he should be sent to the White 
House. But the thing most in his favour was that 
during the heated discussion which had gone on for 
the last three or four years over the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act he had been abroad and had not been 
called upon to commit himself on that all-important 
issue. The Democratic party had undoubtedly lost 
the North as a whole, but Buchanan stood the best 
chance among the leaders of the party of still hold- 
ing a few of the less pronounced anti-slavery States. 
Again, he was a man most acceptable to the South. 
He had frequently shown that he was prepared to 
uphold the institution of slavery on constitutional 
grounds, and indeed he w T as believed by many South- 
erners, especially since the part he played in the 
Ostend Manifesto, to favour slavery itself. As a 
result, when the first ballot was taken at the Conven- 
tion the vote stood Buchanan 135, Pierce 122, 
Douglas 33, Cass 5. Pierce and Cass soon dropped 
out of the race and the contest was between Douglas 
and Buchanan. Buchanan's strength at the begin- 
ning came principally from the North, but Slidell 
and Wise brought many of the Southern delegates to 
his side, and on the sixteenth ballot Buchanan had 
168 and Douglas 122. " The Little Giant " had lost 
the prize for which he played when he introduced the 
Kansas-Nebraska Act, but he was not hopeless and 
still looked forward towards being President of the 
United States. Buchanan's nomination was, after 
this ballot, made unanimous. 

The Whig party had but little life in it, however. 
Millard Fillmore was its nominee. A new party, the 
People's party had arisen, and the candidate of this 
party was John C. Fremont, The real fight was 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



63 



between Fremont and Buchanan, but the latter was 
successful after a very heated campaign by 174 
electoral votes to Fremont's 114. With the excep- 
tion of Maryland the South had stood by Buchanan, 
but he really owed his election to the Free States — 
Pennyslvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and 
California. Had they gone against him Fremont 
would have had a majority. For the future troubles 
that arose these five States had themselves much to 
blame. 

The platform adopted by the Democratic conven- 
tion showed clearly where Buchanan stood on the 
slavery question. It was declared by that conven- 
tion : " That Congress has no power under the Con- 
stitution to interfere with or control the domestic 
institutions of the several States ; that the foregoing 
proposition covers the whole subject of the slavery 
agitation in Congress; that the Democratic party 
will adhere to a faithful execution of the Compro- 
mise measures, the act for reclaiming fugitives from 
service of labour included; that the Democratic 
party will resist all attempts at renewing in Con- 
gress, or out of it, the agitation on the slavery ques- 
tion under whatever shape or colour the attempt may 
be made ; and that the American Democratic party 
recognise and adopt the principle of non-interfer- 
ence by Congress with slavery in State and Terri- 
tory, or in the District of Columbia/' 

In his inaugural address, March 4, President 
Buchanan proved himself either blind to the state of 
feeling in the Union or that he had wilfully closed 
his eyes to the growing excitement. It was true 
that there had been hot words and even blows given 
and taken during the campaign, but according to 
him, calm had come to the nation and he was begins 



64 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ning his term with fair prospects. It is difficult now 
to understand how he could have held such a view, 
and his inaugural address with its trimming and its 
lack of insight is sufficient to prove him the worst 
possible man to control the destinies of his country 
in the most critical moment of her history. 

" We have recently," he said, " passed through a 
presidential contest in which the passions of our fel- 
low citizens were excited to the highest degree by 
questions of deep and vital importance ; but when the 
people proclaimed their will the tempest at once sub- 
sided and all was calm. 

" The voice of the majority, speaking in the man- 
ner prescribed by the Constitution, was heard, and 
instant submission followed. Our own country 
could alone have exhibited so grand and striking a 
spectacle of the capacity of man for self-government. 

" What a happy conception, then, was it for Con- 
gress to apply this simple rule, that the will of the 
majority shall govern, to the settlement of the ques- 
tion of domestic slavery in the Territories ; Congress 
is neither c to legislate slavery into any Territory or 
State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the 
people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject 
only to the Constitution of the United States.' " 

Plausible words these, and no doubt the enthusiasm 
which attended the inaugural services made him 
think that the tempest was stilled. But he was blind, 
blind; a storm of righteous indignation was beating 
against the abominable institution of slavery, and a 
wise President would have seen that unless he took 
a decided stand with the !North to prevent slavery 
from spreading to the Free States only civil war 
could be the result. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



65 



He, however, thought the whole matter of when 
and how slavery should be admitted to the Terri- 
tories one " of but little practical importance," " a 
judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the 
supreme court of the United States, before whom it 
is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speed- 
ily and finally settled." This belief no doubt gave 
him great peace of mind, but it blinded him to the 
preparations the South were even then making to 
resist the North to the death ; and to the bitter feel- 
ing in the North that was every day growing more 
intense and more wide spread. 

He did little by his selection of a cabinet to allay 
the feeling that the country was being placed under 
the control of the pro-slavery party. Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan, was appointed Secretary of State; 
Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury ; 
John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; 
Isaac Toucey of Connecticut, Secretary of the ISTavy ; 
Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, Postmaster-General; 
Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the 
Interior, and Jeremiah S. Black, Attorney- General. 

He was to be tested as soon as he took up office. 
He had touched on the celebrated Dred Scott affair 
in his inaugural address, and had said that which- 
ever way the judgment went he would legally uphold 
it. Scott was sent back to slavery, and the nation 
had to accept the decision that the Missouri Com- 
promise was illegal and " that a slave could be car- 
ried into any Territory without thereby gaining im- 
munity from his status as a slave." Again he was 
to be tested as Pierce was tested in Kansas. The 
legislature there had been elected illegally and when 
Governor Geary, unable to cope with the situation, 
resigned and K. J. Walker was appointed in his 
5 



66 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



place it was announced that President Buchanan, as 
President Pierce had done, would recognise the 
" mob elected " body. This decision roused the 
North to a greater pitch of excitement than had 
existed there at any time since the Douglas Bill was 
introduced. The Abolitionists had in many cases 
been extreme, and many of the best minds in the 
North had kept in the background for fear of being 
classed among the fanatics, but now they stepped 
into the breach and forty of them signed the New 
Haven Memorial which at once gives the situation 
existing and the feeling of the best element in the 
North. It was as follows: 

" The fundamental principle of the Constitution 
of the United States, and of our own political insti- 
tutions, is that the people shall make their own laivs 
and elect their own rulers. 

" We see with grief, if not with astonishment, 
that Governor Walker of Kansas openly represents 
and proclaims that the President of the United 
States is employing through him an army, one pur- 
pose of which is to force the people of Kansas to obey 
laws not their own, nor of the United States, but 
laws which it is notorious, and established upon evi- 
dence, they never made, and rulers they never 
elected. 

" We represent, therefore, that, by the foregoing, 
your Excellency is openly held up and proclaimed, 
to the great derogation of our national character, as 
violating in its most essential particular the solemn 
oath which the President has taken to support the 
Constitution of this Union. 

" We call attention further to the fact that your 
Excellency is in like manner held up to this nation, 
to all mankind and to all posterity, in the attitude 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



67 



of levying war against a portion of the United 
States, by employing arms in Kansas to uphold a 
body of men, and a code of enactments, purporting 
to be legislative, but which never had the election, 
nor the sanction, nor the consent of the people of that 
Territory. 

" We earnestly represent to your Excellency that 
we also have taken the oath to obey the Constitution ; 
and your Excellency may be assured that we shall 
not refrain from the prayer that Almighty God will 
make your administration an example of justice and 
beneficence, and with His terrible majesty protect 
our people and our Constitution." 

To this memorial the President replied as 
follows : 

" When I entered upon the duties of the presiden- 
tial office, on the 4th of March last, what was the 
condition of Kansas ? This Territory had been 
organised under the Act of Congress of 30th of 
May, 1854; and the government, in all its branches, 
was in full operation. A Governor, Secretary of the 
Territory, chief justice, two associate justices, a mar- 
shal and district attorney, had been appointed by my 
predecessor, by and with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, and were all engaged in discharging 
their respective duties. A code of laws had been en- 
acted by the Territorial legislature; and the judi- 
ciary were employed in expounding and carrying 
these laws into effect. It is quite true that a con- 
troversy had previously arisen respecting the validity 
of the election of members of the Territorial legisla- 
ture, and of the laws passed by them ; but, at the time 
I entered upon my official duties, Congress had 
recognised the legislature in different forms and by 
different enactments. 



68 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



" The delegate elected by the House of Represen- 
tatives under a Territorial law had just completed 
his term of service on the day previous to my 
inauguration. In fact, I found the government of 
Kansas as well established as that of any other 
Territory. 

" Under these circumstances, what was my duty ? 
Was it not to sustain this government ? To pro- 
tect it from the violence of lawless men who were 
determined either to rule or ruin? To prevent it 
from being overturned by force ? In the language of 
the Constitution : ' to take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed ' 1 It was for this purpose, and 
for this alone, that I ordered a military force to 
Kansas, to act as a posse comitatus in aiding the 
civil magistrate to carry the laws into execution. 

" The condition of the Territory at the time, 
which I need not portray, rendered this precaution 
absolutely necessary. In this state of affairs would 
I not have been justly condemned, had I left the 
marshal and other officers of like character, impotent 
to execute the process and judgments of courts of 
justice established by Congress, or by the Terri- 
torial legislature under its express authority, and 
thus have suffered the government itself to become 
an object of contempt in the eyes of the people ? 
And yet this is what you designate as forcing ' the 
people of Kansas to obey laws not their own, nor of 
the United States ? ; and for doing which you have 
denounced me as having violated my solemn oath. 

" I ask, What else could I have done, or ought I 
to have done ? Would you have desired that I should 
abandon the Territorial government, sanctioned as 
it had been by Congress, to illegal violence, and 
thus renew the scenes of civil war and bloodshed 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



69 



which every patriot in the country had deplored? 
This would have been indeed to violate my oath of 
office, and to fix a damning blot on the character of 
my administration. 

" I most cheerfully admit that the necessity for 
sending a military force to Kansas to aid in the exe- 
cution of the civil law reflects no credit upon the 
character of our country. But let the blame fail 
upon the heads of the guilty. Whence did the neces- 
sity arise ? A portion of the people of Kansas, un- 
willing to trust to the ballot-box — the certain 
American remedy for the redress of all grievances — 
undertook to create an independent government for 
themselves. Had this attempt proved successful, it 
would of course have subverted the existing govern- 
ment prescribed and recognised by Congress, and 
substituted a revolutionary government in its stead. 

" This was a usurpation of the same character as 
it would be for a portion of the people of Connecticut 
to undertake to establish a separate government 
within its chartered limits, for the purpose of re- 
dressing any grievance, real or imaginary, of which 
they might have complained against the legislative 
State government. Such a principle, if carried into 
execution, would destroy all lawful authority and 
produce universal anarchy. 

" I ought to specify more particularly a condition 
of affairs which I have embraced only in general 
terms, requiring the presence of a military force in 
Kansas. The Congress of the United States had 
most wisely declared it to be ' the true intent and 
meaning of this act ? (the act organising the Ter- 
ritory) ' not to legislate slavery into any Territory 
or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but -to leave 
the people thereof perfectly free to form and regu- 



70 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



late their domestic institutions in their own way, 
subject only to the Constitution of the United States. 

" As a natural consequence, Congress has also 
prescribed by the same act, that, when the Territory 
of Kansas shall be admitted as a State, it i shall be 
received into the Union with or without slavery, as 
their Constitution may prescribe at the time of their 
admission. ' Slavery existed at that period, and still 
exists, in Kansas, under the Constitution of the 
United States. This point has at last been finally 
decided by the highest tribunal known to our laws. 
How it could ever have been seriously doubted is to 
me a mystery. If a confederation of sovereign 
states acquire a new territory at the expense of the 
common blood and treasure, surely one set of the 
partners can have no right to exclude the other 
from its enjoyment in prohibiting them from taking 
into it whatsoever is recognised as property by the 
common Constitution. 

" But when the people, the bona- fide residents of 
such Territory, proceed to frame a State Constitu- 
tion, then it is their right to decide the important 
question for themselves — whether they will continue, 
modify, or abolish slavery. To them, and to them 
alone, does this question belong, free from all 
foreign interference. In the opinion of the Terri- 
torial legislature of Kansas, the time had arrived for 
entering the Union; and they accordingly passed a 
law to elect delegates for the purpose of framing a 
State Constitution. This lav/ was fair and just in 
its provisions. It conferred the right of suffrage on 
' every bona- fide inhabitant of the Territory/ and 
for the purpose of preventing fraud, and the intru- 
sion of citizens of near or distant States, most prop- 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



71 



erly confined this right to those who had resided 
there three months previous to the election. 

" Here a fair opportunity was presented for all 
the qualified resident citizens of the Territory, to 
whatever organisation they have previously be- 
longed, to participate in the election and to express 
their opinion at the ballot-box on the question of 
slavery. But numbers of lawless men still continue 
the regular Territorial government. They refused 
either to be registered or to vote, and the members 
of the convention were elected legally and properly 
without their intervention. 

" The convention will soon assemble to perform 
the solemn duty of framing a Constitution for them- 
selves and their posterity; and, in the state of incip- 
ient rebellion which still exists in Kansas, it is my 
imperative duty to employ the troops of the United 
States, should this become necessary, in defending 
the convention against violence while framing the 
Constitution ; and in protecting the bona-fide inhabi- 
tants qualified to vote under the provisions of this 
instrument in the free exercise of the right of suf- 
frage, when it shall be submitted to them for their 
approbation or rejection. 

" Following the wise example of Mr. Madison 
towards the Hartford Convention, illegal and danger- 
ous combinations, such as that of the Topeka Con- 
vention, will not be disturbed unless they shall 
attempt to perform some act which will bring them 
into actual collision with the Constitution and the 
laws." 

While in the internal Government of his country 
Buchanan seemed to show a great lack of insight, in 
international affairs his record was a brilliant one. 
His diplomatic training peculinrly fitted him for 



^2 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

dealing with the European powers, and had he not 
been thwarted by the Senate he might have ac- 
complished much greater things than he did. He 
had been sent to England by the Pierce administra- 
tion to endeavour to settle the difficulties that had 
arisen concerning the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. The 
Crimean war had dwarfed all other issues, and he 
had been able to accomplish but little; however, he 
now gained his point and for some years at least the 
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was to cease to trouble the 
nation. 

England, it will be remembered, had occasioned 
the War of 1812 largely by her arrogant assertion 
of the right of search. She again saw an opportunity 
of asserting a similar right. She had now taken her 
stand against the slave trade, and claimed the right 
of searching merchant vessels in time of peace to see 
if they were engaged in this nefarious traffic. For 
this purpose she sent cruisers to search the seas in 
the vicinity of Cuba. Buchanan denied the right 
and promptly sent a strong fleet to sea " to protect 
all vessels of the United States on the high seas from 
search or detention by vessels of any other nation." 
England was wrong and recognised it, and reluc- 
tantly withdrew her vessels. Buchanan had acted 
in this matter solely with the intention of upholding 
the honour of his country, but many of the fanatics 
of the anti-slavery party interpreted his action to 
mean that he did not desire to have the slave trade 
interfered with. 

In 1858, a satisfactory treaty was concluded with 
China. His strong policy with Paraguay gained 
him the admiration of the country; and but for the 
Republican majority in the Senate the wise recom- 
mendations he made with regard to Mexico would 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



73 



have been adopted. The Spanish question, too, he 
handled in such a way as to promise a happy settle- 
ment of the great difficulties between the two powers, 
but again he was thwarted, and through the Senate 
failed, perhaps, to avert the difficulties which 
at length culminated in the Spanish- American war. 
Had there been no great internal struggle tugging 
at the vitals of the nation, James Buchanan might 
have gone down to history as one of the greatest and 
wisest of rulers. Even in internal affairs he could 
be strong. The Mormons of Utah were in a state 
of rebellion against the central government, and at 
first defied the President and the troops he sent to 
enforce his commands, but he went at the matter with 
energy and soon compelled them to obey the adminis- 
tration. 

He had found when he took hold of the govern- 
ment that there was much corruption in public affairs, 
and this he seems to have been unable to check. His 
enemies managed to have a committee — the Covode 
Committee — appointed to investigate the alleged 
corruption, and though much was unearthed it was 
found that the President's hands were clean. How- 
ever, a stronger man in the same position would 
have prevented a great deal that was going on almost 
under his very eyes. 

All through his term of office the storm-cloud in 
Kansas grew blacker and the President did nothing 
to avert the calamity that was surely approaching. 
The Union must be preserved, State Rights must 
be maintained: this was the burden of his every 
utterance. Behold, he seemed to say, I have taken 
my stand on the Constitution ! But, alas ! it was on 
the letter of the Constitution and not the spirit, and 



n 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



never were the words " the letter killeth " better 
exemplified. 

The time was rapidly approaching when it would 
be necessary to select a new president. Four were 
nominated and Abraham Lincoln stood before the 
nation a picturesque, strong and striking leader of 
the anti-slavery forces. They had united around him. 
There was no uncertainty in his position. He had 
declared : " A house divided against itself cannot 
stand. I believe this government cannot endure 
permanently half slave and half free. I do not 
expect the Union to be dissolved : I do not expect to 
see the House to fall; but I do expect that it will 
cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or 
all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will 
arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the 
public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course 
of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it 
forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the 
States, old as well as new — North as well as South." 
Here was a man about whom to rally, and the anti- 
slavery party almost to a man declared its intention 
to stand by him. 

It was otherwise with the pro-slavery party. The 
Northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas, 
the Southern Democrats John C. Breckinridge, and 
the " Old Line Whigs " brought forward John Bell 
of Tennessee. From the commencement of the con- 
test it was evident that Lincoln would be elected. 
The Southern States, as they saw his majority rolling 
up, began preparations for war, and threats of seces- 
sion became more frequent and more determined. 
It was generally understood that the election of Lin- 
coln would be the signal for immediate secession on 
the part of at least a number of the Southern States. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



75 



At this critical moment President Buchanan 
showed himself deplorably weak. In his annual 
message of 1860 he maintained that " a State had 
no constitutional right to secede and that the Federal 
government had no constitutional power to prevent 
secession." Of his attitude Seward said : " It shows 
conclusively that it is the duty of a President to exe- 
cute the laws — unless somebody opposes him; and 
that no State has a right to go out of the Union — 
unless it wants to." When the secession movement 
began he had words of blame only for the Abolition- 
ists. " The long-continued and intemperate inter- 
ference of the Northern people with the question 
of slavery in the Southern States," he said, " has at 
length produced its natural effects." 

The truth is, his whole prejudices were with the 
South. The polish of the Southern gentlemen at- 
tracted him ; that he was President was due to their 
influences, and he was never horrified by the evils 
of slavery. He was surrounded by ardent pro- 
slavery men, and John B. Floyd, his Secretary of 
War, was doing everything in his power to weaken 
the North and strengthen the South. Troops were 
scattered throughout the country, and the navy was 
for the most part on foreign stations. It would have 
been a difficult task, but an energetic President, 
even as late as 1860, might have averted the war that 
was to cost his country nearly a million lives. 

There is this, however, to be said on his behalf: 
the Republicans had a majority in the Senate, and 
from that august body he received no assistance 
either in maintaining peace or in executing the laws 
of his country. But it is to be feared he played 
deliberately into the hands of his Southern friends. 
If Senator Keilt can be believed, he was at one with 



76 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



them. " South Carolina," Keilt said in December, 
1800, < ' cannot take one step backwards now without 
receiving the curses of posterity. South Carolina, 
single and alone, is bound to go out of this accursed 
Union. Mr. Buchanan is pledged to secession, and 
I mean to hold him to it. ' ' 

These words had every appearance of truth. The 
President continued to denounce the Northern agi- 
tators. He was warned by General Scott of the 
necessity of reinforcing the Federal garrisons in 
the South, but he paid no heed to the warnings, and 
when in December South Carolina did finally secede, 
he opposed it in no way, save that he refused to 
receive the commissioners sent to him from the 
seceding State. The rebel flag was now floating to 
the breeze in Charleston; Major Anderson had 
withdrawn the garrisons from Castle Pinckney and 
Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and remained there 
inactive while the Southerners threw up strong bat- 
teries and held him in a state of siege. Federal 
property was appropriated, the steamer " Star of the 
West " bringing supplies to Fort Sumter was fired 
upon, but Mr. Buchanan sat silent in the White 
House. His Ministers were leaving him, some had 
deliberately gone over to the rebels, but the best he 
could do towards maintaining peace was to send a 
secret message to the secessionists begging them to 
stay their hand until the end of his administration. 
It is true he still hoped for peace, and by his action 
on the Crittenden Compromise showed that he be- 
lieved the difficulties between the North and the 
South might yet be averted by constitutional means. 
However, if his action throughout this critical period 
is calmly viewed, the words of John Sherman will 
not seem too severe : " The Constitution provided 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



77 



against every probable vacancy in the office of presi- 
dent ; but did not provide for utter imbecility." 

All this time the Confederates were planting bat- 
teries and making extensive preparations for war, 
while the inactivity of the President tied the hands 
of his officials. He believed he was adhering to the 
Constitution, however, and refused to receive the 
commissioners who came to Washington from the 
Confederate government which was meeting at 
Montgomery, Alabama, under the Presidency of 
Jefferson Davis. 

Uo man ever was more rejoiced than was Presi- 
dent Buchanan when his term of office closed, and 
he left to his successor the hardest task ever given to 
a ruler, more difficult even than the one which fell 
to the lot of Washington. His last public appear- 
ance was on March 4, 1861, when he rode to the 
Capitol with the President-elect, Abraham Lincoln. 
There was an ominous silence in the crowd on that 
day, and everywhere, lining the streets and the 
housetops and windows, were people who wondered 
what the morrow would bring forth. 

What a contrast the two men presented: the one 
cultured, polished, noble in appearance, with much 
of the Old World refinement and the Old World 
prejudice still clinging to him; the other ungainly, 
awkward, trained in the rough life of the frontier, 
a genuine product of the New World. Slavery was 
the last remnant of the Old World that clung to the 
new; it required such a man as Lincoln, a child of 
this continent, to give it its death blow. 

Buchanan now passed off the stage. He retired 
to Wheatlands to rest for the remainder of his days. 
He felt the war keenly, and in a feeble way spoke 
on behalf of the Union. With the words, " O Lord, 



78 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



God Almighty, as Thou wilt ! " he died on June 
1, 1868. Thus passed away the pure-minded, 
noble-hearted gentleman who was " never heard to 
express an ignoble sentiment " or seen " do an act 
that could diminish the respect and reverence " of 
those living daily with him. He was undoubtedly 
the weakest of all the Presidents of the United 
States, but he had been tried as no other President 
was tried, save Washington and Lincoln; they stood 
the test but he was found wanting. 

It would seem that each century of a country's his- 
tory can produce but one man capable of grappling 
with a great crisis; Washington, in the eighteenth 
century, was to firmly base his young country, Lin- 
coln was to save it from wreck in the nineteenth: 
both situations needed men of blood and iron; the 
plausible manners of a courtier such as Buchanan 
was were a poor substitute for these essentials in a 
great ruler. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



79 



CHAPTEK VI. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 

(Two Administrations, 1861-1865, 1865.) 

In 1860, the United States was sorely in need of a 
strong man. The most important nation in the world 
(for is not the United States the hope of the world) 
needed reconstructing. For eighty years the country 
had been drifting towards the rocks which the Con- 
stitution had not provided against ; for eighty years 
the sins of the fathers who had fostered for gain the 
abomination of slavery were preparing to visit the 
children to the third and fourth generation. Chaos 
was necessary, it would seem, before a new state of 
things, with new principles, new moral fibre in the 
rulers, could be built up. While many minds would 
of necessity aid in this great work it demanded one 
man of commanding genius, of unswerving integrity, 
of indomitable steadfastness of purpose to firmly base 
on the chaos made by war the noblest nation yet 
reared by humanity. 

Literally sprung from the soil, a product of the 
backwoods, — by unremitting industry, by ever keep- 
ing his heart right, Abraham Lincoln was to rank 
with Simon de Montfort, Cromwell, Eichelieu, Wash- 
ington, Bismarck and D'Israeli. In a way he was 
greater than any one of these for he possessed the 



80 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



love of liberty of De Montfort and Cromwell, the 
diplomacy of Richelieu, the integrity of Washington, 
the firmness of Bismarck, the readiness of wit of 
D'Israeli, — and to these qualities he added the heart 
of a Burns. 

This many-sided man was horn on February 12, 
1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His forebears, 
however, were of good old Virginian stock. His 
great-grandfather, John Lincoln, was a well-to-do 
land-owner in Virginia, and, when he died, made it 
possible by the goodly heritage he left his five sons 
for each of them to become influential citizens of 
Virginia; but already the West was attracting ad- 
venturous spirits. The daring deeds of Daniel Boone 
and other frontiersmen were becoming familiar to the 
boys along the Atlantic border. 

Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the Presi- 
dent, seems to have been attracted by the stories of 
adventures with the savage beasts and more savage 
men of the interior of the continent, and the fertile 
land awaiting the plough of the settlers, and the rich 
forests that stood ready for the axe. In 1780 he sold 
his patrimony in Virginia and with his wife and five 
children moved westward into the very heart of the 
wilds of Kentucky. Eor two years this worthy 
pioneer laboured to cut out a home for himself in the 
forest, but his career in his new abode was to be a 
brief one. One day, two years after settling in Ken- 
tucky, he was labouring in the forest when a band of 
savages, who looked with jealous eye on the inroads 
the settlers were making on their domain, crept upon 
him and shot him down in sight of his three sons, 
Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas. 

The family struggled on, and Thomas, who was 
four years old at the time of his father's death, grew 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



81 



to manhood a lover of the woods and fields, an enthu- 
siastic hunter but a poor labourer, with great physical 
strength and greater physical indolence, and but little 
intellectual force. He, however, had energy enough 
to learn the trade of a carpenter. There must have 
been something attractive about him for he won the 
hand of ISTancy Hanks, a country girl with more than 
ordinary beauty and intelligence. In studying the 
character of President Lincoln it will be seen that he 
inherited many of his characteristics from his father. 
He, too, possessed great physical strength and like- 
wise a thorough distaste for physical labour. Both 
were great story-tellers and thoroughly appreciated a 
good joke, but to these traits he combined the quali- 
ties of his mother's finer nature, intellectual keenness 
and sympathy. Of his parentage Abraham Lincoln 
was never communicative. With regard to his early 
life he once said to an enquirer that it was summed 
up in the immortal line of Gray's Elegy, 

" The short and simple annals of the poor." 

His father when he married E~ancy Hanks was so 
illiterate that he could not read or write, but that 
was no unusual thing in those days. It is hard to 
tell just how much schooling Abe received in his 
Kentucky home, but it could not have been very 
extensive, as, in his tenth year, after the family had 
moved to Indiana he was still unable to write. He 
certainly attended school and knew the educative 
value of a hazel switch. 

However, the limits of Kentucky grew too narrow 
for the shiftless, roving father ; the spirit that had im- 
pelled old Abraham to leave the comfortable, settled 
life of Virginia for the dangers and hardships of the 
West urged Thomas to try his fortune in the newer 
6 



82 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



regions of Indiana, and so he moved there with his 
family in 1816. He threw up a rude shelter of small 
unhewn logs, a " half -faced camp," a building but 
fourteen feet square with neither floors nor doors nor 
windows, and with but three sides enclosed. In this 
rude building the future occupant of the White 
House spent his first year in Indiana. 

In a way life was pleasant for the Lincolns in their 
new home. The soil was fertile, the forest abounded 
in all kinds of game, and Thomas dreamt away many 
lazy hours shooting bears and deer and wild turkeys. 
Young Abe became an excellent shot and could bring 
down a turkey on the wing with unerring aim and 
even took pleasure in lying in wait for deer ; but 
he never found great delight in killing animals. 
As time went on the fourteen foot house was 
found to be too small for the Lincolns and Thomas 
constructed one eighteen feet square, and this was to 
be the Lincoln homestead in Indiana. A plague 
known as " the milksick " visited the district carry- 
ing off both people and cattle. Friends and relatives 
of the Lincolns died, and at length the mother was 
seized with the disease, and left the indolent Thomas 
to care for his family. But Thomas did not like the 
responsibility and wandered back to Kentucky in 
search of another wife. 

Before he had wedded Nancy Hanks he had paid 
his devotions to Sarah Bush, but was rejected for an 
individual named Johnson. Meanwhile Johnson had 
died and Sarah was a widow. Thomas wasted no 
time in courting, and the matter of fact method of 
his wooing won the widow and he took her back with 
him to Indiana. She made a splendid mother to his 
children who learned to love her clearly. Her pres- 
ence put new life into Thomas who was induced to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



83 



help her make her cheerless dwelling more homelike. 

Abraham now had an opportunity of attending 
school a little more regularly and at a very early age 
showed a love for books. He had, however, but 
scant opportunities to improve himself. When ten 
years old he trudged a mile and a half to school, and 
later, when fourteen, was compelled to walk no fewer 
than four miles to a log school, where he was in- 
structed in " ciphering, readin, and rithmetic." He 
had not many books but those he possessed he read 
and re-read. The Bible, 2E sop's Fables, Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, and a Life of 
Washington was about the extent of his available 
reading. When a newspaper fell into his hands he 
devoured it, reading and re-reading its columns. He 
was a most attentive and industrious student, never 
missing a day when it was possible to be at school, but 
his father often required his services on the farm, 
and if a chance ever presented itself to have him 
earn a few cents working for a neighbour Thomas had 
no hesitation in making him lay aside his books. 
Among his fellow students he had, even as a boy, a 
considerable reputation for literary work. He was 
essentially a creative genius, and the man who was to 
create a new nation could not as a boy refrain from 
endeavouring to express the thoughts that possessed 
him. So he grew towards manhood, a thoughtful, 
strange, ungainly creature, thin and lank, the oddest- 
looking boy in Indiana, and as odd in mind as he 
was in body. 

One of his school comrades, a girl with an eye for 
appearances, gives the following description of him 
at this period : " His skin was shrivelled and yellow. 
His shoes when he had any were low. He wore buck- 
skin breeches, linsey-woolsey shirt, and a cap made 



84 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of the skin of a squirrel or coon. His breeches were 
baggy and lacked by several inches meeting the tops 
of his shoes, thereby exposing his shin, sharp, blue, 
and narrow." But despite his uncouth appearance 
he had a magnetism about him that attracted others. 
Pie took but little pains, however, to cultivate friends. 
He was lost in self -improvement. Within him was a 
voice continually urging him on, and not even Burns, 
who created many of his immortal songs while hold- 
ing the plough and mowing in the field, had a more 
active brain. During the leisure moments when at 
work during the busy harvest time his fellows would 
gather about him, and listen with interest to his 
stump speeches on questions on which he had 
gained some insight by reading a Louisville news- 
paper that found its solitary way into Gentry- 
ville, or laugh loudly at his droll manner and the 
rich fund of stories with which he entertained them. 
In every direction he was reaching out and had even 
won quite a village reputation as a poet ; but in this 
art he never rose above very sorry doggerel. 

He was in a way methodical in his work, and if a 
song, a thought, or a fact interested him deeply in 
what he was reading he would copy it into a note- 
book. His step-mother seems to have taken an in- 
terest in his efforts after self -improvement. Of his 
work at this period she said : " Frequently he had no 
paper to write his pieces down on. Then he would 
put them with chalk on a board or plank, sometimes 
only making a few signs of what he intended to write. 
When he got paper he would copy them, always bring- 
ing them to me and reading them. He would ask 
my opinion of what he had read and often explained 
things to me in his plain and simple language." He 
" grubbed, ploughed, and mowed barefooted in the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



85 



fields," but he had no love for farm drudgery, and at 
every opportunity left it to seize a book and read. 
Sometimes he would throw himself on his back in the 
shade with JEsop's Fables in his hands and resting 
his broad, ungainly feet against a tree trunk would 
dream away the hours. Thus was the future Presi- 
dent of the United States, the man who was to save 
his country in the greatest crisis in her history, 
educated. 

He was an indefatigable student in his boyhood 
days. " At night," according to William H. Hern- 
don, " lying on his stomach in front of the open fire- 
place, with a piece of charcoal he would cipher on a 
broad wooden shovel. When the latter was covered 
over on both sides he would take his father's drawing 
knife or plane and shave it off clean, ready for a fresh 
supply of inscriptions the next day. He often moved 
about the cabin with a piece of chalk, writing and 
ciphering on boards and the flat sides of hewn logs. 
When every bare and wooden surface had been filled 
with his letters and ciphers he would erase them and 
begin anew." 

Mental activity of this kind is rarely combined 
with physical energy. A man who is such an ardent 
lover of books and ideas is seldom fond of toiling 
with his hands, and although Lincoln had a body, 
peculiarly fitted for hewing down forests, splitting 
rails, and breaking the " stubborn glebe " he had no 
love for any of these things. He could probably do 
more work in a given time than any man or boy in 
his region, but, he was, to use the words of a neigh- 
bour who occasionally employed him, "awfully lazy," 
cracking his jokes, telling his stories and retailing his 
information when he should have been attending to 
the work of the farm. 



86 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



He had early observed that the way to greatness in 
his country was through the Law, and although seem- 
ingly born to the axe and the plough determined to 
make himself a lawyer. A copy of the statutes of 
Indiana fell into his hands, and, with his future be- 
fore him, he went at them with even greater interest 
than at his Crusoe or Pilgrim's Progress. He dearly 
loved a law-suit and visited the courts for fifteen 
miles around with the eagerness with which the ordi- 
nary farmer lad rushes to a circus. As he grew in 
knowledge his literary flights became more ambitious 
and at the age of seventeen he wrote a composition on 
the American government, pointing out the dangers 
already threatening his country and making a strong 
plea for maintaining the Constitution and perpetu- 
ating the Union. He likewise had an eye for the 
social evils of his day and wrote vigorously on the 
curse of intemperance. The villagers were amazed, 
and some of them even then began to prophesy great 
things for homely Abe Lincoln. 

Meanwhile he was attending school when he could, 
assisting his father on the farm, and helping the 
family in the struggle for existence by working at 
various odd jobs such as ferrying, rail-splitting, etc. 
He grew restless under the restraints placed on him 
by his environment, he wanted to see the larger world 
from which he received faint echoes in the news- 
papers that occasionally fell into his hands. He was 
still labouring and dreaming and studying at nine- 
teen, the monotony of his life broken only by one 
trading trip to New Orleans. The country he lived 
in was rude and rough and the people as coarse as the 
peasants of Zola's novels. They were exceedingly 
superstitious, believing in witches, wizards, charms, 
and spells. To church and to entertainments girls 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



ST 



and boys went barefooted, carrying their shoes in 
their hands, and at their festivals the abundant use 
of whiskey created many hilarious scenes. In such 
a community was Lincoln formed. He was one of 
the people, with them in their joys and sorrows, in 
their festivals and their entertainments, and even, 
to some extent, in their superstitions. 

In 1829, "the milk-sick" which had driven the Lin- 
colns out of Kentucky visited Indiana, and that, com- 
bined with the fact that they had never been success- 
ful in their new home, urged Thomas to move to 
Illinois which was then attracting settlers. Here the 
family settled on a bluff overlooking the Sangamon 
river and once more hewed for themselves a home out 
of the forest primeval. 

Abraham was now of age, and could shift for 
himself, but for at least two years he remained with 
his father, working for the most part at rail-splitting, 
a fact that was to play such an important part in 
his presidential campaign thirty years later. He 
took another business trip down the long Mississippi 
to Xew Orleans and both on the route and in that 
city his kindly nature was much horrified at the 
sight of slaves in manacles and driven like cattle 
to the market. This journey was an important 
moment in his life, and although he was not to be a 
pronounced Abolitionist for thirty years, he then 
said : " If ever I get a chance to hit that thing I'll hit 
it hard." The world knows the blow he struck it at 
the opportune moment: but it is strange that this 
illiterate, unknown Mississippi boatman should have 
felt within himself the consciousness that the task 
of crushing slavery might yet be his. 

All these years Lincoln was growing physically 
and mentally. Six feet four in height, strong as an 



83 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ox, a famous wrestler — owning no superior — he was 
already a general favorite along the Sangamon. He 
was a well-known figure about ]STew Salem, and had 
quite a reputation as a river pilot, and while not 
loving work was known to be able to accomplish more 
in a given time than any other man on the country 
side. He attracted the attention of an enterprising 
business man named Offut, an Individual with gigan- 
tic schemes in his head but with a disproportionate 
number of dollars in his pocket. He made Lincoln 
general manager of his enterprises, but OfTut ran 
a short, swift course, and a few months after es- 
tablishing Lincoln in business disappeared leaving 
many creditors to mourn. 

Lincoln was without an occupation and having no 
love for farming or felling timber, and with a very 
great affection for leisure in which to brood and read, 
saw in the Black Hawk war a new experience that 
would suit his nature; and, perhaps, imagined 
that a war experience might be of assistance to him 
in winning his way into a political career. He en- 
listed in the Sangamon company, and had the honour 
of being elected captain of as raw a lot of genial 
ruffians as ever went in search of loot or glory. A 
very probable response to his orders was : " Go to the 
devil, Sir !" But he was one of themselves and the 
sorriest figure in the ranks did not present a more 
remarkable appearance than the captain. 

It would require the pen of a Cervantes to picture 
his military career. Twice he was arrested: on the 
first occasion he was deprived of his sword for a day, 
and on the second was compelled to carry a wooden 
sword for two days. But he was hail-fellow-well-met 
with everybody, and as the men of his company had 
votes he endeavoured to win their good will as he 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



89 



had decided to be a candidate for the next Legisla- 
ture. The term of enlistment was a short one, and as 
the majority of the men in pursuit of the redoubtable 
Black Hawk had grown weary of the work, they re- 
turned to their farms or workshops. Not so with 
Lincoln ; he was in a peculiar position. As he after- 
wards said very candidly to his law partner William 
H. Ilerndon, " I was out of work and there being no 
danger of more fighting, I could do nothing better 
than enlist again." This time he took rank as a 
private in the company of one Elijah lies; but in 
August his soldiering was at an end, and he was back 
in Sangamon County soliciting the votes of his neigh- 
bours for the Legislature. 

He was then and for many years after a prominent 
Whig, favouring the National Bank, a liberal system 
of internal improvement, a high protective tariff, and 
increased educational expenditure. In other words 
he was thoroughly progressive, even visionary. 

He was an odd figure as he appeared on the plat- 
form to make his first political address. He was clad 
" in jeans coat, claw-hammer style, short in the sleeves 
and bob-tail, so short in the tails that he could not 
sit on them; flax and tow-linen pantaloons, and a 
straw hat." During the course of his first speech, 
too, he observed a ruffian opposed to him making him- 
self obnoxious in the crowd. Lincoln stepped from 
the platform seized him and cast him to the ground 
" ten feet away " and then stepped back to his place 
and finished his speech. Such was the beginning of 
the political career of a man who was to do a greater 
work for humanity than Gladstone or Bismarck or 
any other of his political contemporaries. He ex- 
pected to be beaten in this first election, and he 
was ; but he was not without honour in his own land. 



90 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

Out of the two hundred and eight New Salem votes 
he got all save three. 

He now managed to get control, in partnership 
with a man named Berry, of a general store. This 
gave him more leisure as he left the business end of 
the concern to his somewhat profligate partner while 
he lay on the counter studying Euclid and Blackstone 
or reading the latest sensational novel, or sat round 
the winter stove discussing politics with the gossips 
of the village. The result, as might be expected, was 
business failure, and he had a legacy of debt that 
kept him poor for fifteen years. He apparently made 
no effort to please his customers, avoided all women, 
and took no pains with his appearance. 

One familiar with him at this time writes : "As a 
salesman he wore flax and tow-linen pantaloons — I 
thought about five inches too short in the legs — and 
frequently had but one suspender, no vest or coat. 
He wore a calico shirt, such as he had in the Black 
Hawk war ; coarse brogans, tan color ; blue yarn socks 
and straw hat, old style, without a band." 

He was once more adrift. Studying law, reading 
Paine, Volney, and Voltaire; rail-splitting, occa- 
sional work in a store, attending horse-races and cock- 
fights, — thus he spent his time, ever ready for a wrest- 
ling bout or a trial of strength. He worked for a 
time with a surveyor and an excellent assistant he 
made ; a government office, that of postmaster, helped 
him in his struggle for existence, although as the 
" post-office was in his hat " it could not have been a 
very remunerative position. He still had his eye 
on the legislative halls. In 1834 he once more strove 
for political honours, standing on his Whig princi- 
ples, and this time he won. His biographers have 
generally placed him at the head of the poll, but 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



91 



according to the latest authorities he made an excel- 
lent second among the four successful candidates. 

The Legislature met at Vandalia in those days, and 
the dignity of his position demanded that he should 
make a respectable appearance in its halls; but he 
was without a decent suit of clothes. However he 
had friends — he was never without them — and 
borrowed sufficient money to purchase a coat, on 
whose tails he could at least sit, and pantaloons that 
would not permit too much of his thin shanks being 
in evidence. 

At this period Lincoln was very much in love with 
a sweet and beautiful girl named Anne Rutledge. A 
simple, sad romance surrounded her life and through 
it Lincoln, ever ready to bestow sympathy, was drawn 
to her. But a year after his election to the Legis- 
lature she died, and for a time he was broken-hearted, 
plunged in the deepest melancholy, not daring to 
carry even a pocket knife for fear of suicide. 
Throughout his entire life he had periods of gloom 
of a similar kind which at several crises in his career 
bordered on insanity. A short time after this he 
tried to fill the void in his life by endeavouring to 
win the heart of Mary S. Owens, a woman of massive 
beauty and considerable strength of character, but he 
failed, although he made sufficient impression to have 
Miss Owens remember him as a "man with a heart 
full of kindness and a head full of sense," — a happy 
expression that hits off the genius and power of Lin- 
coln to perfection. 

All this time he was industriously working at the 
study of law with the hope of being admitted to the 
Bar, believing that in the profession of law the 
vague longings of his ambitious nature would be 
satisfied. 



92 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

president Abraham Lincoln (Continued). 

Lincoln rode into Vandalia with becoming dig- 
nity, in a new suit purchased through the generosity 
of his friend Smoot. During his • first session he 
showed great modesty, was but seldom heard, and at 
no time at any length. He had much to learn and he 
knew it, and he was a silent pupil of the experienced 
politicians. When the session was over he returned 
to New Salem and with new hope applied himself in- 
dustriously to the study of law and worked at survey- 
ing for a livelihood. Although he had done nothing 
in the Legislature to astonish the people of Sanga- 
mon County, when he again presented himself in 
1836 as a candidate he had an enthusiastic follow- 
ing. His speeches now showed greater power and 
finish, and largely due to him the Whigs carried 
the day, with his name at the head of the poll. 

Of him at this time it has been said : " He was big 
with prospects: his real public service was just now 
about to begin. In the previous Legislature he had 
been silent, observant, studious. He had improved 
the opportunity so well that of all men in this new 
body, of equal age in the service, he was the smartest 
parliamentarian and 'cunningest log-roller.' He was 
fully determined to identify himself conspicuously 
with the liberal legislation in contemplation, and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



93 



dreamed of fame very different from that which he 
actually obtained as an anti-slavery leader. It was 
about this time he told his friend Speed that he aimed 
at the great distinction of being called the ' De Witt 
Clinton of Illinois.' " 

He and his fellow Whigs, the " Long Nine," were 
visionary. They saw a great and immediate future 
for Illinois and plunged recklessly into extravagant 
legislation. The following paragraph from Herndon 
and Weik's Life of Lincoln thus presents the situa- 
tion : 

" The representatives in the Legislature from 
Sangamon County had been instructed by a mass 
convention of their constituents to vote 1 for a general 
system of internal improvements.' Another conven- 
tion of delegates from all the counties in the State 
met at Vandalia and made a similar recommendation 
to the members of the Legislature, specifying that it 
should be 1 commensurate with the wants of the 
people.' Provision was made for a gridiron of rail- 
roads. The extreme points of the State, East and 
West, North and South were to be brought together 
by thirteen hundred miles of iron rails. Every river 
and stream of the least importance was to be widened, 
deepened, and made navigable. A canal to connect 
the Illinois River and Lake Michigan was to be dug, 
and thus the great system was to be made ' commen- 
surate with the wants of the people.' To effect all 
these great ends, a loan of twelve million dollars was 
authorized before the session closed. Work on all 
these gigantic enterprises was to begin at the earliest 
practicable moment; cities were to spring up every- 
where ; capital from abroad was to come pouring in ; 
attracted by the glowing reports of the marvellous 
progress and great internal wealth, people were to 



94 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



come swarming in by colonies, until in the end Illi- 
nois was to outstrip all the others, and herself become 
the Empire State of the Union." 

Lincoln was a partner to this wild legislation, was 
indeed the prime mover in these great schemes which 
burdened Illinois with debt. 

During this same session there was a battle royal 
over a bill to remove the seat of government from 
Vandalia. Alton, Decatur, Peoria, Jacksonville, 
Illiopolis, and Springfield all coveted the honour of 
being the State capital, but Lincoln was for Spring- 
field and by dogged determination and adroit wire- 
pulling won the day. 

What is of far greater interest to the world in this 
period of his life is a protest recorded in the Legis- 
lature in this same session, on March 3, 1837. 

" Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery, 
having passed both branches of the General Assem- 
bly, at its present session, the undersigned hereby 
protest against the passage of the same. 

" They believe that the institution of slavery is 
founded on both injustice and bad policy, but that 
the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather 
to increase than abate its evils. 

" They believe that the Congress of the United 
States has no power under the Constitution to inter- 
fere with the institution of slavery in the different 
States. 

" They believe that the Congress of the United 
States has the power under the Constitution to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that 
the power ought not to be exercised unless at the 
request of the people of the District. 

" The difference between these opinions and those 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



95 



contained in the above resolutions is their reason for 
entering this protest. 

" Dan Stone. 
" A. Lincoln. 

" Representatives from the county of Sangamon." 

Lincoln, it will be seen, was at this time no Aboli- 
tionist. He took his stand on the Constitution, but 
at the same time he showed his abhorrence of slavery. 
It would almost seem that in dealing with this ques- 
tion he had his great future before him ; a fanatical 
anti-slavery advocate could not hope for the con- 
fidence of the Nation, but to win his way upwards 
with the people of the North it was wise to show 
where he stood, and the fact that from the commence- 
ment of his career he believed that slavery was based 
on injustice and bad policy could not but make the 
Abolitionists hope that he would yet be with them. 
In this protest he was something of a trimmer. He 
had determined to hit slavery hard if the chance were 
ever given to him, but the blow must be given by 
constitutional means, and he was beginning to feel 
his way even as early as 1837 towards a solution of 
the question whose distant mutterings even then 
gave warning of the volcanic eruption that in 1861 
was to shake the nation to its very foundations. 

When this session closed he was licensed to practise 
law, and straightway entered into partnership with 
a comrade of the Black Hawk war, John T. Stuart. 
He was afterwards in partnership with Stephen P. 
Logan and finally with William H. Ilerndon. 

About this time an important figure appeared on 
the scene. A few years before a Vermont cabinet- 
maker had moved to Illinois and begun the pursuit 
of law. He was a Democrat and an ardent opponent 
of Lincoln and the Sangamon Whigs. This man ? 



96 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Stephen A. Douglas, the "Little Giant," from this 
time onward was to continually cross Lincoln's path, 
and although the two great rivals continued to be 
in a sense personal friends, on political issues they 
were at daggers-drawn. A man like Lincoln requires 
something to draw him out, and in the energy, dogged 
perseverance, political trickery, and eloquence of 
Douglas, Lincoln found the necessary stimulus to 
keep him cultivating his native powers. Throughout 
his entire career from his Legislature days till he 
won his way into the White House he was more 
than a match for his great political rival. 

When Lincoln began the practice of law he found 
his work as junior partner exceedingly distasteful. 
The truth is Lincoln did not like the drudgery of 
existence in any form, and, while Stuart's partner, 
put more time and study on such rhetorical effusions, 
as his " Perpetuation of Our Free Institutions," 
which attracted considerable attention, than on his 
legitimate work. 

In 1838 he was again elected to the Legislature, 
and so much confidence had the Whigs in him that 
he was their nominee for Speaker, but was beaten. 
His last campaign for the Legislature took place in 
1840. He was again elected, and again nominated 
for Speaker, but was once more beaten by the Demo- 
crats. So far his experience had been in the field 
of State politics, but in this year his influence was to 
be broadened. He was selected as an elector on the 
Harrison ticket for President, and in this capacity 
stumped the State, frequently crossing swords with 
Stephen A. Douglas. 

He was now in his thirty-second year, and it would 
seem that the death of Anne Eutledge and his un- 
successful wooing of Mary S. Owens together with 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



97 



the preoccupation of his mind with politics had made 
him a confirmed bachelor ; but Mary Todd, a young 
woman of more than ordinary intelligence, beauty, 
pride, and temper, visited Illinois several years be- 
fore and Lincoln once more imagined he was in love. 
Miss Todd was attracted to him by his intelligence 
and wit, despite his uncouth appearance and quite as 
uncouth manners. Lincoln never truly loved Mary 
Todd; and probably the greatest incentive in his 
courtship was the fact that Stephen Douglas was 
seeking to win her hand. He was to have been mar- 
ried in January, 1841, but when the guests appeared 
for the performance Hamlet could not be found. At 
the last moment his will had failed him, and the 
melancholy that possessed his life when Anne Eut- 
ledge died seized him again; but with even greater 
force. He was closely watched by his friends for 
fear he would commit suicide, and it was only after 
a long holiday in the Kentucky home of his intimate 
friend Speed that he was able to cast off the de- 
pression that possessed his life. After some months 
he returned to Springfield and once more took up the 
practice of law. For a time he was naturally de- 
tested by Miss Todd and her friends, but the friend- 
ship was renewed and in November, 1842, they were 
quietly married, Lincoln going to the altar, " as pale 
and trembling as if being driven to slaughter." It 
was not a happy marriage, but in this brief sketch 
it is unnecessary to go into its details. It was per- 
haps best for the world that Lincoln's domestic life 
was unhappy. Had he been happily married he prob- 
ably would have bestowed on one woman that 
sympathy and love the human race needed. Had 
his fireside been made attractive he might have been 
content to rest there instead of restlessly battling 

7 V 



98 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the forces that strove to destroy his country. But 
all this is vain speculation. 

Although Lincoln did not seek re-election to the 
Legislature after 1840 and devoted himself assid- 
uously to his law practice, which was rapidly be- 
coming very remunerative, he continued to take much 
interest in politics and social affairs, and found a 
vent for his feelings by contributing frequently to the 
Sangamon Journal on a variety of questions. His de- 
sire had ever been to make the world better for his 
sojourn in it, and when in 1842 the Washingtonian 
Temperance Movement took hold of the people of 
Illinois he displayed considerable enthusiasm in the 
work. He could not, however, long keep out of 
political life ; in 1843 he was anxious to run for Con- 
gress and in the campaign for President of 1844 he 
stumped the State of Illinois and even made several 
speeches in Indiana on behalf of Clay. 

On May 1, 1846, Lincoln was nominated for Con- 
gress at Petersburg, and now proved himself an astute 
politician. He was denounced as an unbeliever, the 
Church forces were arrayed against him, but he 
triumphed and was elected by a majority of 1,511, 
his faithful supporters in Sangamon County, where 
he was best known, giving him a majority of 690. 
He was to be tested even before going to Congress. 
The Mexican war was in full swing, and politicians 
were expected to take sides for or against the struggle. 
Many leading men, many even of the leaders of the 
army, deemed the war an unrighteous one, brought 
about by the schemings of Democratic politicians and 
the desire of the pro-slavery party to extend their 
influence to the Pacific. Lincoln was opposed to the 
war, but his fellow-countrymen were fighting on 
foreign soil against an enemy who had been guilty of 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



99 



many brutal acts, and he now urged a vigorous 
prosecution of the struggle with the hope that it 
might have a speedy termination. 

In December he took his seat in Congress, at a 
time when Stephen A. Douglas, his great rival in the 
race for the Presidency, was beginning to make his 
influence felt on the floors of the Senate. Lincoln 
was not a brilliant Congressman. He made, it is 
true, several noteworthy speeches on the " Spot Reso- 
lutions " and against the Polk administration in con- 
nection with the Mexican war; but in these he dis- 
appointed his friends and probably did much to 
weaken Whig influence in Illinois. He, however, 
shortly before the adjournment of Congress deli- 
vered an oration on behalf of General Zachary 
Taylor and against General Cass which was at once 
strong, in his best vein, and intensely characteristic 
of the man. The following paragraph from this 
speech gives with exceptional humour the esteem in 
which he held his own war experiences : 

" By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a 
military hero ? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black 
Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away. Speak- 
ing of General Cass's career, reminds me of my own. 
I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I was about as 
near it as Cass was to Hull's surrender; and, like 
him, I saw the place very soon afterwards. It is 
quite certain I did not break my sword for I had none 
to break, but I bent my musket pretty badly on one 
occasion. If Cass broke his sword, the idea is, he 
broke it in desperation; I bent the musket by acci- 
dent. If General Cass went in advance of me pick- 
ing whortleberries I guess I surpassed him in charges 
upon the wild onions. If he saw any live, fighting 
Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good 



100 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes; and, 
although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can 
truly say I was often very hungry. Mr. Speaker, if 
ever I should conclude to doff whatever our Demo- 
cratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade 
federalism about me, and, thereupon they shall take 
me up as their candidate for the Presidency, I pro- 
test that they shall not make fun of me as they* have 
of General Cass by attempting to write me into a 
military hero." 

In August, 1848, he found a new field for his 
energy. He was known as the " Lone Star of 
Illinois," the only Whig member for his State, and 
as such went to the JSTew England States to work for 
General Taylor, — to work against the " Free Soilers" 
who twelve years later were to be his mainstay. In 
the home of American culture and eloquence the 
rough backwoodsman with his angular body, his 
badly-fitting garments, and his rustic manners at- 
tracted much attention through the soundness of his 
public utterances. The Boston Advertiser thus de- 
scribes him as he appeared at the Whig State Conven- 
tion at Worcester: 

" Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with 
an intellectual face, showing a searching mind and a 
cool judgment. He spoke in a clear and cool and 
very eloquent manner, carrying the audience with 
him in his able arguments and brilliant illustrations, 
only interrupted by warm and frequent applause. 
He began by expressing a real feeling of modesty in 
addressing an audience 'this side of the mountains/ 
a part of the country where, in the opinion of the 
people of his section, everybody was supposed to be 
instructed and wise. But he had devoted his atten- 
tion to the question of the coming presidential elec- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



101 



tion, and was not unwilling to exchange with all 
whom he might meet the ideas to which he had 
arrived.' 7 

He displayed but little rhetoric, he aimed at being 
plain and direct and to the point, — and he succeeded. 
On this occasion he spoke in Tremont Temple in 
company with W. H. Seward, and while listening 
to Seward his spirit was reminded of the grave evil 
that was in his country — slavery, a question on which, 
despite his iSTew Orleans experiences, he was still 
lukewarm. " Governor Seward," he said, " I have 
been thinking about what you said in your speech. 
I reckon you are right. We have got to deal with 
the slavery question, and got to give much more 
attention to it hereafter than we have been doing." 
He learned much while stumping the New England 
States and gained a finish and polish in his oratory 
that was to make him one of the greatest speakers 
of his century. 

Up to this period of his life Lincoln was to some 
extent without a centre. He was an active partisan, 
not above the tricks of the politician, capable of 
taking a mean advantage of an opponent, and, to win 
his point, of uttering half-truths. He believed in the 
Union and he believed in State rights, but neither 
his heart nor his intellect was awake to the great 
questions that were so soon to rend his country in 
twain. When he retired from Congress it seemed 
almost as if he had ceased to take a serious view of 
politics or life. He was rapidly rising in reputation 
as a lawyer, he was the most famous story-teller in 
Illinois, but his ordinary work was done in a careless, 
shiftless, unmethodical manner; although at times, 
when moved by injustice done to a client he 
showed a power and intensity that only the greatest 



102 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



possess. He had grown to love truth, was scrupulously 
honest, and, when occasion demanded it, an energetic 
worker. President Taylor recognised the good work 
Lincoln had done for him and offered Lincoln the 
position of Governor of the Territory of Oregon, but 
Lincoln declined the position. Lie seemed to be 
growing attached to the law, and was apparently for- 
getting all about Washington and the White House, 
when the Eepeal of the Missouri Compromise awoke 
the whole man. 

This was the work of his great rival Douglas, and 
for the next six years these two men were to stand 
before their State and the Nation as bitter political 
opponents. Their first important battle of rhetoric 
and logic was at the State fair at Springfield in 
October, 1854. Douglas had made a brilliant and 
powerful speech defending his advocacy of his 
" Squatter Sovereignty " and the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. On the following day Lincoln replied, and 
made what many of his friends considered the ablest 
speech of his life. In the language of the Spring- 
field Journal: " The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was 
shivered and like a tree of the forest was torn and 
rent asunder by the hot bolts of truth." 

These two magnetic speakers had their most 
famous passage at arms in 1858. The Republicans 
in that year placed Lincoln in the field to oppose 
Douglas when he sought re-election to the Senate. 
When the canvass was about to begin Lincoln chal- 
lenged Douglas to discuss the grave questions of the 
hour in a series of joint meetings. Douglas was 
not without courage and accepted the challenge. 
Lincoln expected to be beaten in the race for the 
Senate, but he had planned to put it forever out of 
Douglas' power to reach the Presidential chair. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



103 



Douglas' only hope lay in the South and Lincoln him- 
self was looking to the nomination in I860, and to 
turn the South against Douglas he forced from him 
an affirmative answer to the question, " Can the 
people of a United States Territory, in any lawful 
way, against the wish of any citizen of the United 
States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the 
formation of a State Constitution % " Douglas 
was in a difficult position. A negative answer 
would have caused his defeat for the Senate; an 
affirmative one would bring upon him the enmity 
of the South : but as a politician Douglas was not 
honest, and believing that he would in the two years 
intervening before the Presidential election be able 
to square himself with the slave-holders gave an 
affirmative answer. But for that question, so cun- 
ningly put, Stephen A. Douglas would probably have 
been President of the United States. 

His own answers to the questions put to him at this 
time by Douglas show admirable caution. The 
following extracts from his speech at Freeport prove 
that while he was opposed to slavery as wholly 
wrong, he was not yet prepared to go the length of 
the Boston abolitionists : 

" In regard to the other question, of whether I am 
pledged to the admission of any more slave States 
into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I 
would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a posi- 
tion of having to pass upon that question. I should 
be exceedingly glad to know that there would never 
be another slave State admitted into the Union ; but I 
must add that if slavery shall be kept out of the 
Territories during the territorial existence of any 
one given Territory, and then the people shall, having 
a fair opportunity and a clear field, when they come 



104 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



to adopt the constitution, do such an extraordinary 
thing as adopt the slave constitution, uninfluenced 
hy the actual presence of the institution among them 
I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to 
admit them into the Union 

"The fourth one is in regard to abolition of slavery 
in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I 
have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be 
exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses 
the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet, as a 
member of Congress I should not, with my present 
views, be in favour of endeavouring to abolish slavery 
in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon 
these conditions : First, that the abolition should be 
gradual; second, that it should be on a vote of the 
majority of qualified voters in the district; and, 
third, that compensation should be made to unwilling 
owners. With these three conditions I confess I 
would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia and, in the lan- 
guage of Henry Clay : ' Sweep from our capital that 
foul blot upon our nation/ 

" In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say 
here that, as to the question of the abolition of the 
slave trade between the different States, I can truly 
answer, as I have, that I am pledged to nothing 
about it. 

" It is a subject to which I have not given that 
mature consideration that would make me feel au- 
thorized to state a position so as to hold myself 
entirely bound by it. In other words, that question 
has never been prominently enough before me to 
induce me to investigate whether we really have the 
constitutional power to do it. I could investigate it 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



105 



if I had sufficient time to bring myself to a conclu- 
sion upon that subject, but I have not done so, and I 
say so frankly to you here and to Judge Douglas. I 
must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that 
Congress does possess the constitutional power to 
abolish the slave trade among the different States, I 
should still not be in favour of the exercise of that 
power unless upon some conservative principle as I 
conceive it, akin to what I have said in relation to 
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia." 

Douglas was re-elected to the Senate. His affir- 
mative answer to Lincoln's questions had assured his 
victory. Apparently Lincoln knew it would, and 
had said to a friend who remonstrated with him 
about it : "I am after larger game. If Douglas so 
answers he can never be President, and the battle of 
1860 is worth a hundred of this." 

The campaign had made him famous. Douglas, 
particularly through the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, had 
become one of the most prominent figures in the 
Union, and it was known that, although unsuccessful 
in the senatorial contest, Lincoln had proved more 
than his equal in debate, and in the East the Anti- 
slavery party began to speak of Lincoln in the same 
breath with Seward and Sumner and Wendell Phil- 
lips. He was to have one more triumph before his 
name was to be spoken of for the Presidency. He 
accepted an invitation to deliver an address at Cooper 
Institute, New York. It was a brilliant assemblage 
that gathered to hear the backwoods lawyer from 
Illinois, and they left deeply impressed with the 
power and sincerity of the man. It was in this 
speech that he said : 

" In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many 
years ago : ' It is still in our power to direct the pro- 



106 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



cess of emancipation and deportation peaceably and 
in such slow degrees as that the evil will wear off 
insensibly and their places be pari passu filled up by 
free white labourers. If, on the contrary, it is left to 
force itself on, human nature must shudder at the 
prospect held up. ? 

" Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say nor do I, that 
the power of emancipation is in the Federal govern- 
ment. He spoke of Virginia ; and, as to the power of 
emancipation, I speak of the slave-holding States 
only. 

" The Federal government, however, as we insist, 
has the power of restraining the extension of the in- 
stitution — the power to insure that a slave insurrec- 
tion shall never occur on any American soil which is 
now free from slavery." 

The North had at length produced a man who 
was not afraid to speak and who could speak with- 
out frenzy. 

Before returning to Springfield he passed through 
the New England States addressing meetings fre- 
quently and leaving behind him the impression that 
out of the West had come a giant to help them down 
the evil against which they had so long been fighting. 
When he returned to his home he calmly waited, 
conscious at times that the supreme gift in the power 
of his country to bestow was within his grasp. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



107 



CHAPTER VIII. 

president Abraham Lincoln (Continued). 

In May, I860, the Republican Convention met in 
Chicago in a vast building known as the Wigwam. 
There were several very strong men before the party 
for the office of President. Chief among these were 
Seward and Chase. There was a dark horse in the 
field, however. " Honest Old Abe " was worshipped 
by many of his Illinois friends and among themselves 
was much talked of for the Presidency, although not 
considered seriously in this light outside of his own 
State. Seward was the most probable nominee of 
the party. He was a man of culture, a man of ideas, 
an eloquent speaker, skilled in affairs. He was not 
only an Eastern politician but he had a national 
reputation. On the other hand Lincoln while w T ell- 
known in the "West was not known in the East except- 
ing for his speeches in l\ T ew England, and for his 
celebrated address in New York. However, one 
never knows what will happen at a Presidential con- 
vention and Lincoln's friends succeeded in bringing 
his name prominently before the Convention and 
in having him nominated on the third ballot. 
This was a triumph for a man who, while not with- 
out hope, had not seriously considered himself for the 
Presidential office. It must have been a bitter pill 
for Seward to swallow, this defeat by an uncouth 



108 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



backwoodsman who carried the Convention not on 
account of the brilliancy of his career, but through 
the two cries " Honest Old Abe " and "Rail-splitter." 

Lincoln was a little afraid of the office of Presi- 
dent. Like every strong man he recognised his own 
limitations. " Seriously/' he said, " I do not think I 
am fit for the Presidency." However, nothing short 
of it would satisfy his ambition. His friends wished 
to have his name stand for the Vice-Presidency if not 
for President, but Lincoln desired to play second 
fiddle to no man, and rejected the proffered honour. 

The Democratic convention which met in Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, had not such unanimity of 
feeling. There were numerous ballotings but no 
candidate could be selected. It divided sharply into 
two sections. Lincoln by his question two years 
before to Stephen A. Douglas had killed that can- 
didate's chance of support from the South. The 
Southern half were unable to trust Douglas after his 
Preeport speech and they adjourned to Richmond, 
but again joined the other half at Baltimore. But 
Union was out of the question and final disruption 
took place. The Southern half nominated John C. 
Breckinridge of Kentucky, and the Northern portion 
nominated Stephen A. Douglas. To make matters 
more difficult for the Democrats, J ohn Bell of 
Tennessee was nominated by the so-called Constitu- 
tional Union Party. In the multiplicity of can- 
didates lay Lincoln's success at the polls. He had 
the entire support of the Anti-slavery party of the 
North and as a result had no difficulty in winning. 
When the electoral College cast their votes Lincoln 
had 180, Breckinridge 72, Bell 39, and Douglas 12. 

When the results were known the Slave States 
began at once to carry out their threats of secession. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



109 



South Carolina was the first to go, and she was 
quickly followed by Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana, and Texas. These seceding 
States formed a Government of their own, named it 
the Confederate States of America and elected Jef- 
ferson Davis as President, while Buchanan looked on 
in dismay. 

Lincoln was now in a somewhat peculiar position. 
He was elected President of the United States, but 
found that in the period between his election and his 
inauguration a large and influential part of his coun- 
try was endeavouring to separate itself from the 
rest. His friends expected him to speak, but what 
his ideas were, or what course he intended to pursue 
when he took up office he told no man. However 
one thing he did emphasise on every possible occasion 
— that he would preserve the Union. 

He was scarcely elected before his troubles began, 
troubles that were to worry him more than the great 
war. He was besieged at once by office-seekers . 
They came in droves and even before he went to 
Washington he regretted ever having run for the 
Presidency. 

He said in his wrath, " I am sick of office-holding 
already, and I shudder when I think of the tasks that 
are still ahead. " 

He took his farewell from Springfield on February 
11, 1861, and from the rear platform of the car gave 
one of his short, characteristic speeches. 

" Friends," he said, " no one who has never been 
placed in a like position can understand my feelings 
at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this 
parting. For more than a quarter of a century I 
have lived among you, and during all that time I 
have received nothing but kindness at your hands. 



110 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Here I have lived from my youth until now I am an 
old man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were 
assumed. Here all my children were born ; and here 
one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I 
owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange, 
checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind. 
To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more diffi- 
cult than that which devolved upon Washington. 
Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with 
and aid me, I must fail ; but if the same omniscient 
mind and almighty arm that directed and protected 
him shall guide and support me I shall not fail — I 
shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of our 
fathers may not forsake us now. To Him I commend 
you all. Permit me to ask that with equal sincerity 
and faith you will invoke His wisdom and guidance 
for me. With these words I must leave you, for 
how long I know not." 

It was to be forever ; but the influence of the man 
had left its impress deep upon his State, and was to 
leave it before he died as deeply upon the "Nation. 

On his way to Washington he spoke on a number 
of occasions and was decidedly guarded in all of his 
speeches. The South was menacing: it would have 
been a very short-sighted man who could not have 
foretold that war was inevitable, but Lincoln would 
do nothing to hasten the " irrepressible conflict." 
There would not be bloodshed unless it was forced 
upon the Government and then the Government 
would only fight in self-defence. But self-defence 
meant defence of the Union, and that in time could 
only mean carrying the war into the seceding States. 

The South was thoroughly roused against this new 
President who was speaking with no uncertain voice. 
Many were hoping that he would never reach Wash- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Ill 



ington, and a plot was set on foot to assassinate him 
on the journey. He was to be slain as he passed 
through Baltimore, but the authorities at Washing- 
ton were aware of the plot and took every means to 
guard against a tragedy. The great detective Allan 
Pinkerton was engaged, ferreted out the details of 
this plot and so arranged matters that Lincoln arrived 
safely at Washington. There is not a shadow of 
doubt but that an attempt would have been made on 
his life had he passed through Baltimore according 
to his first arrangements. When he reached Wash- 
ington he found that old General Scott had every- 
thing in readiness to protect him. There was serious 
danger that a calamity might occur on the Fourth 
of March but ample guards were posted through the 
city and the presence of so many troops prevented 
Southern sympathisers from attacking the President 
on the day of his inauguration. The following ac- 
count of this great inauguration by an eye-witness is 
well worth perusal. 

" The attendance . . . was unusually small, 
many being kept away by anticipated disturbance, 
as it had been rumoured — truly, too — that General 
Scott himself was fearful of an outbreak, and had 
made all possible military preparations to meet the 
emergency. A square platform had been built out 
from the steps to the eastern portico, with benches 
for distinguished spectators on three sides. Douglas, 
the only one I recognised, sat at the extreme end of 
the seat on the right of the narrow passage leading 
from the steps. There was no delay, and the gaunt 
form of the President-elect was soon visible, slowly 
making his way to the front. To me, at least, he was 
completely metamorphosed — partly by his own 
fault, and partly through the efforts of injudicious 



112 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



friends and ambitious tailors. He was raising (to 
gratify a very young lady it is said) a crop of whis- 
kers, of the blacking brush variety, coarse, stiff and 
ungraceful; and in so doing spoiled, or at least 
seriously impaired, a face which, though never hand- 
some, had in its original state a peculiar power and 
pathos. On the present occasion the whiskers were 
reinforced by brand new clothes from top to toe; 
black dress-coat, instead of the usual frock, black cloth 
or satin vest, black pantaloons, and a glossy hat 
evidently just out of the box. To cap the climax of 
novelty, he carried a huge ebony cane, with a gold 
head the size of an egg. In these, to him, strange 
habiliments, he looked so miserably uncomfortable 
that I could not help pitying him. Reaching the 
platform his discomfort was visibly increased by 
not knowing what to do with hat and cane ; and so he 
stood there, the target for ten thousand eyes, holding 
cane in one hand and hat in the other, the very pic- 
ture of helpless embarrassment. After some hesita- 
tion he pushed the cane into a corner of the railing, 
but could not find a place for the hat except on the 
floor, where I could see he did not like to risk it. 
Douglas, who fully took in the situation, came to the 
rescue of his old friend and rival, and held the 
precious hat until the owner needed it again ; a ser- 
vice which, if predicted two years before, would prob- 
ably have astonished him. The oath of office was 
administered by Chief Justice Taney, whose black 
robe, attenuated figure, and cadaverous countenance 
reminded me of a galvanised corpse. Then the 
President came forward, and read his inaugural 
address in a clear and distinct voice. It was atten- 
tively listened to by all, but the closest listener was 
Douglas, who leaned forward as if to catch every 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



113 



word, nodding his head emphatically at those passages 
which pleased him most." 

His address was worded with great judgment. It 
was the utterance of a man who desired peace, but 
dreaded that the sword could alone bring peace. He 
made no threat against the South, he spoke of the 
mistaken States with kindness and tenderness. He 
was not at this time oversure of himself and was 
carefully feeling his way. The first draft of his 
address had in it expressions that would certainly 
have irritated the hot-headed Southerners, but know- 
ing his own inexperience he had submitted his 
address to Seward, and Seward had made a number 
of excellent suggestions and a few changes. 

It has been said of Lincoln that his " nomination 
was a triumph of availability and local enthusiasm 
assisted by unexpected circumstances over great merit 
and still greater popularity." Seward may have 
had the greater merit, a cool head and a cultivated 
mind, but he was not the man for this critical time 
in his country's life. Lincoln would almost seem to 
have been peculiarly raised up by heaven to see his 
nation through this great crisis. But he had much 
to learn and he was not unwilling to learn from 
Seward. However when Seward attempted to be the 
power behind the throne and manage Lincoln he 
found that he was working with a stronger man, a 
greater diplomat, and a keener intellect than himself, 
and was content to take a second part in the govern- 
ment of his country. 

Lincoln had a somewhat difficult task, considering 
the times and the men available, to select a cabinet, 
but he made his own cabinet and made it with 
excellent judgment. William H. Seward, of ~Ne\v 
York, was his Secretary of State ; Salmon P. Chase, 



114 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron, 
of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, 
of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. 
Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior ; Edward 
Bates of Missouri, Attorney-General; Montgomery 
Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster-General. Secretary 
Chase resigned in 1864 and was succeeded by Will- 
iam P. Fessenden, of Maine; Secretary Cameron 
was almost immediately appointed Minister to Russia 
and Edwin M. Stanton became Lincoln's vigorous 
and energetic war minister. Secretary Smith was 
created a judge, and John P. Usher, of Indiana, 
became Secretary of the Interior. Attorney-General 
Bates and Postmaster-General Blair both resigned 
in the last year of the administration and were suc- 
ceeded by James Speed of Kentucky and William 
Dennison of Ohio. 

Lincoln had used excellent judgment in his selec- 
tion of a cabinet. It was necessary to hold the 
Federal party together and to do this he had to work 
wisely with both Seward and Chase, but while he 
elevated them to the first positions in his cabinet he 
soon let them see that he was no tool in their hands. 

In his inaugural address he had pleaded with the 
South for peace. "In your hands," he said, "my dis- 
satisfied countrymen, and not in mine is the momen- 
tous issue of civil war. The government will not 
assail you. You can have no conflict without being 
yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath 
registered in heaven to destroy the government, while 
I shall have a most solemn one to preserve, protect 
and defend it." 

His words only irritated the South. On the day 
following his address instead of learning that there 
was a hope of still preserving the Union without war, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



115 



the President received word from Major Anderson 
that Fort Sumter could not much longer hold out 
unless it were reinforced and resupplied. Twenty 
thousand men would be needed to hold it against the 
army that was rapidly gathering in its vicinity. For 
the next month the country was in a state of wonder, 
the Northern people had expected much from Lin- 
coln, and yet he seemed to be acting along the lines 
of Buchanan. He held his own counsel, made no 
preparations to carry on war and seemed to sit idle 
in the White House while the Southern army was 
each day growing stronger. But he was biding his 
time. The first blow must be struck by the South, 
and when, on April 12, a shell was fired into Fort 
Sumter it was the signal for Lincoln to sternly show 
his position. Sumter surrendered; a fierce shout 
went up from the North, and Lincoln without a 
moment's hesitation issued a call for 75,000 men for 
three months. Three weeks later he issued a still 
further call for 64,000 soldiers and 18,000 seamen 
for three years. It was evident he feared a long 
contest and was making preparations for it. 

At the beginning of this struggle the South was in 
a sense in an immensely better position than the 
North. In the first place, General Floyd, Secretary 
of War under Buchanan, had used his position to help 
her prepare for the struggle. He had scattered 
the small army of the United States in distant posts ; 
he had sent the navy to foreign waters, and he had 
left the Southern fortifications in such a condition 
that they could not but be an easy prey to the rebels, 
whom he himself, with his knowledge of the condi- 
tion of the army and navy, was to join. Again the 
South looked hopefully to Europe. The people knew 
that even England with all its high professions 



116 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



against slavery was in a sense their friend, even so 
strong and far-sighted a politician as Mr. Gladstone 
taking sides with them. Their soldiers, too, were in 
much better shape for war than the men of the 
North. The struggle with Mexico and the wars 
with the Indians had been conducted largely by 
soldiers from the South and the Confederacy had 
practically an army of veterans officered by men of 
experience who for the most part had received their 
training at West Point. They had, too, abundant 
supplies and arms. On the other hand the North 
was, from a military point of view, weak; her sol- 
diers were untrained, her army was sadly in need of 
experienced officers, she was in dread of European in- 
tervention, but, — she had a vast country to draw 
from, a sturdy population, and a righteous cause. 

When Sumter fell soldiers were at once hurried to 
Washington and the first blood shed in the campaign 
was in the streets of Baltimore as the troops from 
the North were hastening through that Southern 
city. 

One of the things most worthy of recording at 
the beginning of this struggle is the attitude of Lin- 
coln's lifelong rival and opponent for the Presidency, 
Stephen A. Douglas. He had professed himself a 
lover of the Union, and now that the Union was 
threatened, in the few months thatwereleft to him of 
life, his voice was raised in support of Lincoln. 

After the first shock of war affairs were at a stand- 
still, the North was preparing for the conflict and 
the South was getting ready to resist any invasion of 
Southern territory. April passed, May passed, J une 
passed and excepting for the initial fight of the war 
at Big Bethel near Hampton in Virginia, no impor- 
tant conflicts took place. The Union generals began 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



117 



to feel themselves strong enough to come to battle 
with the South, and so on July 21, 1861, General 
Irwin McDowell met the Confederate generals 
J oseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard at 
Bull Run. It was for a time an indecisive struggle, 
but at length the undisciplined, untried soldiers, from 
the workshops, the farms and the stores of the North 
gave way before the fierce attacks of the Southern 
troops and in mad confusion rushed towards Wash- 
ington. A host of spectators had trooped from the 
city to witness the battle, and these, in a pouring rain, 
mingled with the demoralised troops that rushed into 
the capital. It looked for a time as though Washing- 
ton would fall, but the fight had been a hard one and 
the Southern troops were not in a position to follow 
up their victory. It was a hard blow but Lincoln was 
not crestfallen. To the defeated general he was 
able to send the telegram, " We are not discouraged." 
As Walt Whitman says, " If there were nothing else 
of Abraham Lincoln for history to stamp him with, 
it is enough to send him with his wreath to the mem- 
ory of all future time, that he endured that hour, 
that day, bitterer than gall, indeed a crucifixion day ; 
that it did not conquer him; that he unflinchingly 
stemmed it, and resolved to lift himself and the 
Union out of it." 

It had in one sense a bad effect on the Federal 
cause. Hopelessness set in in many directions, and 
the untrained mob of the North became the laugh- 
ing-stock of Europe. Little could Europe have 
imagined in that hour that in a very few years 
American soldiers would be strong enough to drive 
one of the European powers from this continent 
and to defy any one of them to attempt to assert her- 
self in the Americas. Indeed such are now the 



118 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



resources of the United States and such the skill of 
her soldiers and her seamen that it is very doubtful 
if any combination of European powers could suc- 
cessfully sustain a war against her. 

More men were needed, a call went up for 500,000 
men, and $250,000,000 and the North was ready to 
answer the call. In the meantime a great deal of 
preparation had to be done. At the beginning of 
nearly all great wars a few hard knocks are neces- 
sary to teach the Powers what course to pursue. 
The first months of the British campaign in South 
Africa was an excellent instance of this. The chief 
thing to do now was to sit tight and get ready for 
war. There was a great lack of good generals, the 
best available man seemed to be General George B. 
McClellan. This general was placed at the head of 
the army and at once began to organize and drill 
it. A great fighter McClellan was not. He over- 
estimated the number of the enemy and had not that 
dash that is necessary for the winning of great vic- 
tories. What he could do, he could do, and so he 
drilled away at his army of 150,000 or more men 
until the spring of ? 62. At length he moved on 
Richmond only to be repulsed. He was relieved of 
the command later in the year, but the generals who 
replaced him were equally unable to cope with such 
a brilliant strategist as Lee, the most brilliant soldier 
in this war, not excepting Grant 

While the army of the Potomac was meeting with 
reverse after reverse, along the Mississippi, a soldier 
of power had appeared, " a sledge hammer of war " 
as he has been called by Goldwin Smith. Grant had 
in the hour of reverses captured Confederate forts 
and defeated Southern forces. 

The campaign of the year 1861 was far from 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



119 



being a favorable one to the North; she had suf- 
fered several severe defeats and although the Federal 
troops had gained some minor victories they had no 
such success to show as Big Bethel or Bull Kun. 
Still Lincoln was hopeful; never for a moment did 
he despair. 

The reverses on the scene of conflict were not the 
only thing to cause the President anxiety. There 
was serious danger of European complications. He 
had, however, made an excellent choice in the Min- 
ister he sent to England: Charles Francis Adams 
made a splendid representative in that country at 
this crisis in his country's history. The first danger 
arose through the action of Captain Wilkes of the 
United States sloop " San Jacinto." This com- 
mander bore down upon the English mail steamship 
" Trent " outside of Havana and seized Mason and 
Slidell,the accredited Confederate agents to England. 
The action was applauded in the Northern States, 
but caused the loudest outcries in England. Many 
were for war, and it seemed for a time as if a strug- 
gle might take place between England and the North. 
However, Lincoln saw clearly that the action was 
not a justifiable one, and so released the two prison- 
ers. The affair was not without its good effect, Eu- 
ropean Powers recognised that a firm and wise ruler 
was at the head of affairs in the North, and although 
several of them had strong leanings towards the South 
they postponed recognising the independence of the 
Confederate States of America. 

There was at this time another source of irritation 
arising between England and the Federal govern- 
ment. Privateers were beginning to play havoc with 
the rich commerce of the North, and England took 



120 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



but careless steps to exclude these marauders from 
her ports. 

At the beginning of 1862 the war between Mexico 
and France threatened likewise to complicate mat- 
ters. Had this struggle occurred under any other 
circumstances there is no doubt whatever but that 
Lincoln and the American people would have stepped 
in and interfered along the lines of the Monroe 
Doctrine. But the Civil war called forth all the 
energy of the government, and not even the bold 
manifesto of Louis Napoleon to General Forey could 
make Lincoln take a hand in the struggle. A part 
of his manifesto is well worth reading. It is as fol- 
lows : " In the present state of civilisation the 
development of America can no longer be a matter 
of indifference to Europe. America takes our wares 
and keeps alive our commerce. It is to our interest 
that the Republic of the United States of North 
America should nourish and prosper, but it is not 
at all to our interest that they should come into 
possession of the entire Gulf of Mexico, to rule from 
there the destinies of the Antilles and South Amer- 
ica and control the products of the New World." 
A manifesto such as this at any other time would 
have called forth energetic action on the part of the 
government. 

At the beginning of this same year Grant on the 
West was " anxious to do something." In February 
the forts Henry and Donelson fell into his hands, and 
it looked for a moment as if a genuine fighting gen- 
eral had suddenly arisen. Lincoln's observing eye 
was on him, and he never lost the faith in Grant he 
gained in the first months of 1862. But jealousies 
arose among the generals and, as a result of their 
quarrel at a time when something of genuine value 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



121 



might have been done, Grant was placed under ar- 
rest. However he was soon restored to his command 
and shortly after fought the great battle of Shiloh. 
The first day of this fight was practically a defeat 
and the field was only saved by the arrival of rein- 
forcements. General Grant was much criticised for 
his conduct of this battle, and his enemies clamoured 
for his removal. Lincoln, however, would not listen 
to them ; he saw that in Grant he had a fighter, a man 
who would spare neither himself nor his men to win 
a victory, a man in many ways of the Napoleonic 
type. " I can't spare that man/* said Lincoln, "he 
fights." No doubt as he uttered these words he was 
thinking of the general-in-chief, McClellan, who was 
then drilling his troops, making vast preparations, 
but doing nothing of a decisive nature. 

In the beginning of the struggle the South was 
practically without ships, and it was a comparatively 
easy matter for the North to make the blockade of 
many of her ports effective. In 1862, however, 
there was a momentary change, the " Merrimac," 
a monster of war, appeared among the Northern 
ships and created havoc for a moment. However, the 
North was preparing for such an emergency; Erics- 
son had constructed his " Monitor," and before ex- 
cessive injury could be done to the navy of the North 
this strange vessel appeared on the scene and proved 
a worthy rival of the unique " Merrimac." The duel 
between these two great ships completely changed 
naval warfare, and out of the civil strife in America 
came the great modern rams and turret ships of the 
European world, and wooden battleships in which 
the gallant Farragut delighted became things of the 
past. 

All this time Lincoln was keeping his eye fixed on 



122 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the Mississippi. When the war commenced the Con- 
federates held the whole of that great waterway from 
Cairo to A T ew Orleans. "The Mississippi is the back- 
bone of the Kebellion. It is the key to the whole 
situation/' said Lincoln, and along that river brisk 
fighting was to follow. Admiral Farragut was sent 
to attack New Orleans, and after stiff fighting and 
heroic deeds succeeded in entering the city, and on 
May 15 placed it under the military command of 
General Butler. This somewhat increased the hopes 
of the North. 

Meanwhile McClellan with his large army was 
watching Lee. On September 4, the great Southern 
general crossed the Potomac with 40,000 men and 
McClellan with double the number met him at South 
Mountain and at Antietam and forced him back. 

After the battle of Antietam Lincoln performed 
the most noteworthy act of his presidential career. 
He was a great anti-slavery president, elected largely 
by the votes of the Abolitionists, and for over a year 
these Abolitionists had been clamouring for him to 
emancipate the slaves, but he had refused to listen 
to their appeals or to heed their abuse. Even such 
prominent, enlightened, and wise thinkers as Wendell 
Phillips and Horace Greeley had held him up to ridi- 
cule and publicly denounced him for his attitude, 
but he went on his way awaiting the right moment. 
" I do not want," he said, " to issue a document that 
the whole world will see must necessarily be inopera- 
tive like the Pope's Bull against the comet. . . . 
I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be 
decided on according to the advantages or disad- 
vantages it may offer to the suppression of the re- 
bellion. ... I have not decided against a proc- 
lamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold this matter 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



123 



under advisement." From the beginning what he 
had determined upon was to keep his country intact, 
the Union must be saved, — that was his first thought. 
He said to Horace Greeley, " My paramount object 
is to save the Union, and not either to save or de- 
stroy slavery. If I could save the Union without 
freeing any slaves, I would do it ; if I could do it by 
freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and, if I could 
do it by freeing some and leaving others alone I 
would also do that." 

The matter of emancipation had since the begin- 
ning of the conflict been brought very prominently 
before the nation. General Fremont in his district 
had emancipated the slaves, but Lincoln believing 
that the time was not yet ripe for such a course de- 
cided that under existing circumstances such a policy 
could not be carried out. Again, in May, General 
Hunter issued an order containing these words, 
" Slavery and martial law in a free country are alto- 
gether incompatible. The persons in these three 
States — Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina — here- 
tofore held as slaves are, therefore, declared forever 
free." Lincoln at once declared this proclamation 
void, saying, " Whether it be competent for me as 
commander-in-chief of the army and navy to declare 
the slaves of any State or States free, and whether at 
any time or in any case it shall have become a neces- 
sity indispensable to the maintenance of the govern- 
ment to exercise such supposed power, are questions 
which under my responsibility I reserve for myself, 
and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the 
decision of commanders in the field. These are 
totally different questions from those of police regu- 
lations in armies or camps." 

[Naturally his attitude with regard to slavery 



124 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



met with much condemnation from the Abolition- 
ists. He believed in gradual emancipation, but 
was sufficient of an opportunist to see that eman- 
cipation might under given circumstances be sud- 
denly brought about. He was, indeed, a great 
opportunist and during the early part of 1862 had 
been preparing his scheme of emancipation, and 
now that a really great victory had been won at 
Antietam he considered the moment had come, and 
so, a few days after that fight, on September 22, he 
issued his preliminary proclamation, which was to 
come into force on the first of January, 1863. By 
it " all persons held as slaves within any State or 
designated part of a State the people whereof shall 
then be in rebellion against the United States shall 
be then, thenceforward, and forever free." 

This proclamation met with much criticism, but in 
the North was hailed on the whole with great enthu- 
siasm. On the first of the year the final proclama- 
tion was issued. " I do order, and declare," com- 
manded Lincoln, " that all persons held as slaves 
within said designated States and parts of States are 
and henceforward shall be free." The States were 
Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, 
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and cer- 
tain portions of Louisiana and Virginia. The 
emancipation proclamation was issued, but it was 
another matter to put it in force. Although this by 
no means ended the war, it had the greatest possible 
effect in keeping up the spirit of the North. 

Strange to say McClellan with his well-trained and 
well-equipped army did not follow up his victory at 
Antietam. It was necessary to replace him, and 
Lincoln made the mistake of allowing Burnside to be 
appointed in his stead. The result of this appoint- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



125 



ment was increased activity on Lee's part and a mag- 
nificent victory by the Southern leader over the 
North at Fredericksburg. This ended Burnside's 
brief career as general-in-chief and General Hooker 
took command of the forces. So far Lincoln was 
experimenting with his army leaders. It was not 
yet the fitting time for giving Grant the supreme 
command. 

This struggle was one of the most expensive ones in 
the history of war, but the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, Chase, made an admirable financier under the 
difficult circumstances, and Lincoln made no effort 
to retrench. It was not an occasion for economy. 

About this time Lincoln was to receive another 
test. It was the hope of the European monarchs that 
the great Republic in America would prove a failure. 
They believed that the North and the South must 
separate, and as the costly and bloody struggle went 
on several of them thought of advising with regard to 
the situation. Louis Napoleon expressed himself as 
ready to mediate between the North and the South, 
advising that the South be quietly permitted to with- 
draw from the Union. Needless to say Lincoln 
politely but firmly refused to have anything to do 
with the French monarch's offers. 

The war was a costly one in treasure, but vastly 
more so in human lives. The calls for volunteers had 
been nobly met by the North, but this was not suffi- 
cient, it was necessary to issue an Act enrolling all 
citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five. 
This Act roused the greatest indignation against 
Lincoln in certain parts of the Union, and in New 
York City an anti-draft mob created for a brief 
period a reign of terror. But the riot was put down 
and the draft went on. Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio 



126 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



publicly attacked Lincoln in a violent speech at 
Mount Vernon, crying down with " King Lincoln " 
and urging the people to hurl the tyrant from power. 

The struggle went on; the Confederates on the 
whole sustaining the greatest reverses, largely 
through lack of numbers. Their greatest loss early 
in 1863 was the death of that splendid commander, 
General Jackson. Still the North had not satisfac- 
tory generals ; Hooker gave place to Meade, and 
shortly after this appointment the turning point of 
the war was passed. In July the enemies met in 
savage conflict at Gettysburg and out of that bloody 
struggle the Union came forth victor. Before the 
end of the month, too, Grant had occupied Vicks- 
burg and shortly after Lincoln was able to write, 
" The signs look better. The Father of Waters again 
goes unvexed to the sea." 

In November of this year a burial ground was to 
be dedicated to the Union soldiers who fell on the 
historical battle-field of Gettysburg. It was on this 
occasion, on November 19, that Lincoln made his 
famous oration, which, though scarcely more than a 
paragraph in length, lives as one of the oratorical 
gems, to use Goldwin Smith's words, of the English 
language. What a tremendous step there is from 
the stump speeches that elected him to the Legisla- 
ture of Illinois and these few brief sentences worthy 
to be studied along with the work of Demosthenes 
and Cicero. How this man has grown in the few 
short years that power has been his ! 

" Four-score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth on this continent a new nation con- 
ceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that 
all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a 
great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



127 



nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long en- 
dure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. 
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a 
final resting place for those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting 
and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger 
sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we 
cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far 
above our poor power to add or detract. The world 
will little note nor long remember what we say here, 
but it can never forget what they did here. It is 
for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the 
unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to 
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before 
us — that from these honoured dead we take in- 
creased devotion to that cause for which they gave 
the last full measure of devotion — that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in 
vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new 
birth of freedom, and that government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, shall not perish from 
the earth." 

In this same month Grant's star was once more 
in the ascendant. He reached Chattanooga, and the 
victory of Missionary Ridge was won. The end of 
the war was now for the first time in sight, and Lin- 
coln saw that in Grant was the one man with the dar- 
ing and dogged determination needful for bringing 
the conflict to a successful termination, and so, early 
in 1864, he appointed him general-in-chief. When 
he gave him the supreme command, he said : " You 
are vigilant and self-reliant, and pleased with this, I 
wish not to obtrude any constraint or restraints upon 



128 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



you." This was the first time that Lincoln had been 
able to so completely place matters in the hands of 
any of his generals. The war was now to take on a 
new phase. It was to become if anything more 
bloody than at the commencement, but both victories 
won and reverses sustained by the North were to 
bring the end nearer. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



129 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Concluded). 

Grant had now the supreme command of the army 
and a free hand. From the beginning of the struggle 
he had doubtless seen that the North would be suc- 
cessful by mere mass, and determined to engage Lee 
in front, and by overwhelming numbers bring the 
war to a speedy conclusion. He would meet the great 
Southern general and " pound his army to pieces." 

The first great engagements of the campaign of 
1864 took place in " the Wilderness " and in the 
" bloody angle " at Spottsylvania. Lee was in a 
strong position but Grant with dogged determination 
and a Napoleonic disregard for the lives of his men 
hurled his troops against him. He had made up his 
mind to " fight it out on this line " if it took all sum- 
mer. But Lee was as determined as was the North- 
ern general and watched his every movement with an 
experienced eye. Battle followed battle in May and 
the fields of Virginia were red with the blood of 
thousands of noble and brave men. Towards the end 
of the month Grant tried a flank movement towards 
Richmond. He reached Cold Harbor near Chicka- 
hominy and made another effort to crush Lee, but 
Lee was strong in his entrenched position and re- 
sisted the attack inflicting terrible slaughter on the 



130 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Northern forces. This convinced Grant that it would 
be impossible to dislodge Lee by frontal attacks, for 
the present at any rate, and so he became more care- 
ful. 

The time had now come about for a new Presi- 
dential election. The reverses experienced by the 
North, the difficulty Grant was having in his effort 
to dislodge Lee, the fact that Lincoln was looking 
grimly on while tens of thousands of Northern 
soldiers were being slain made the enemies of the 
President hopeful of defeating him in the election 
of 1864. However, when the Republican convention 
met at Baltimore it unanimously, on the 8th of June, 
placed him in the field for President with Andrew 
Johnson of Tennessee as Vice-President. Fremont 
had been nominated by a convention of malcontents 
which met at Cleveland, Ohio, but later in the year 
withdrew, and so left the Presidential campaign to 
be fought out between Lincoln and General George 
B. McClellan, the nominee of the Democratic con- 
vention which met at Chicago. 

The canvass was one of the most heated in the 
history of Presidential elections. Lincoln's attitude 
with regard to emancipation had made him many 
enemies among the extreme Abolitionists; his un- 
compromising position towards the South with re- 
gard to the war and the energy with which he was 
conducting his war measures had made him bitter 
enemies in the Anti-War party; the Act compelling 
the enrollment of citizens which had occasioned the 
riots in New York had likewise created uncomprom- 
ising opponents in the North. When he faced his 
election in 1860 he was met on all sides by threats 
from the Southern States of secession, and now ru- 
mours that a revolution would take place if he were 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



131 



returned to the White House were prevalent in the 
North. 

When the Democrats met in convention in Chi- 
cago they did all in their power to injure Lincoln by 
endeavouring to prove the war a failure, badly con- 
ducted and unnecessary, and by demanding a cessa- 
tion of hostilities. There was considerable feeling in 
the North that the war was a failure and a tendency 
to think that, with the numbers the Federal govern- 
ment had in the field, it should long since have 
been concluded. However, good fortune was with 
Lincoln ; scarcely had the members of the convention 
left Chicago before the turn in the tide commenced. 
A succession of successes in the late summer and 
early autumn of 1864, especially Sherman's capture 
of Atlanta and Sheridan's victory in the Shenandoah 
valley, made Lincoln more popular, a greater idol, 
than ever, and on November 8, he was returned with 
an overwhelming majority, having a vote of 2,216,- 
000 against McClellan's 1,800,000 and an electoral 
vote of 212 against 21. He had carried Indiana, 
which was at the commencement of the canvass very 
doubtful, all the New England States, New York, 
Pennsylvania, all the Western States, West Virginia, 
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Nevada. McClellan had 
but three States, New Jersey, Delaware and Ken- 
tucky. 

The victory was a great one ; as Grant very truly 
said, " a victory worth more to the country than a 
battle won." It would have been a most disastrous 
thing to have changed presidents at such a moment. 
The South would have taken heart, the generals who 
had been placed in command by Lincoln would very 
probably have been superseded by others appointed 
by Lincoln's opponents, and it would have been more 



132 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



than probable that Grant, who of all men was the 
one best fitted to finish this terrible war, would have 
been removed from the chief command. 

The South was already beginning to weaken and 
began to look about for terms. Even before this 
there had been rumours that they were anxious to 
negotiate peace, and although there had been but 
little truth in the reports Lincoln had, in July, taken 
the opportunity to show his attitude on this ques- 
tion. He made public the following statement: 

" To whom it may concern : 

" Any proposition which embraces the restoration 
of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the 
abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and 
with an authority that can control the armies now 
at war against the United States, will be received 
and considered by the Executive government of the 
United States, and will be met by liberal terms on 
substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or 
bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. 

" Abeaham Lincoln." 

July 18, 1864. 

In the beginning of 1865 there was an effort made 
to bring about peace between the E~orth and the 
South. On January 31, 1865, Seward went to Fort- 
ress Monroe, Virginia, to confer with three Confed- 
erate commissioners. The following were the in- 
structions Lincoln on this occasion gave his Secretary 
of State: 

" You will make known to them that three things 
are indispensable, to-wit : Eirst. The restoration of 
the national authority throughout all the States. 
Second. Eo receding by the Executive of the United 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



133 



States on the slavery question from the position as- 
sumed thereon in the late annual message to Con- 
gress, and in preceding documents. Third. ~No ces- 
sation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and 
the disbanding of all forces hostile to the govern- 
ment. You will inform them that all propositions of 
theirs, not inconsistent with the above, will be con- 
sidered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberal- 
ity. You will hear all they may choose to say, and 
report it to me. You will not assume to definitely 
consummate anything. ,, 

During the past year complications, which the 
Southerners hoped would now aid them, had arisen 
on the American continent. At the suggestion of 
the French Generals in Mexico the provisional gov- 
ernment in that country had declared in favour of an 
Empire, and had offered the crown to Archduke 
Maximilian of Austria. So far the United States 
with the Civil war on her hands had kept scrupu- 
lously aloof from embroiling herself in the struggle 
that had been going on in Mexico. ISTow, however, 
she was forced to take action. The United States 
Congress at Washington passed a unanimous resolu- 
tion against recognising a monarchy in Mexico, and, 
when the new sovereign approached, Minister Cor- 
win withdrew from the city of Mexico. The South- 
erners endeavoured to use this peculiar situation for 
their own ends. At the Hampton Roads Conference 
held on board the Federal ship " River Queen," Feb- 
ruary 3, 1865, they proposed that there should be a 
cessation of the Civil war, and that the issues should 
be left in abeyance for the time being. For the 
present they felt that the North and they should join 
their forces to drive the French out of Mexico, — the 
Monroe Doctrine ought to be maintained. But Lin- 



134 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



coin saw that they were playing for time and hoping 
that something would arise to favour their cause and 
so paid no heed to their proposal and the war went on. 

At this same time there was another effort made to 
bring about peace. General Lee proposed a meeting 
to Grant, hoping that the war, which he now saw 
could have but one ending, might cease with honour 
to himself, but President Lincoln ordered Grant to 
decline the proposal. He saw that the end was near 
at hand, and while he wished peace, while he de- 
plored the struggle that was exhausting the resources 
of the nation and cutting off thousands of her best 
men, he had made up his mind to have the thing fin- 
ished properly and forever, with no danger of a re- 
newal of the struggle. 

The spirit of the man is magnificently shown in 
his second inaugural address delivered, March 4, 
1865: 

" At this second appearing to take the oath of the 
Presidential office/' he said, " there is less occasion 
for an extended address than at the first. Then a 
statement somewhat in detail of the course to be pur- 
sued seemed very fitting and proper ; now, at the 
expiration of four years, during which public decla- 
ration has constantly been called for concerning every 
point and place of the great contest which still ab- 
sorbs the attention and engrosses the energy of the 
nation, little that is new could be presented. The 
progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly de- 
pends, is as well known to the public as to myself. 
It is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging 
to all. With a high hope for the future, no predic- 
tion in that regard is ventured. 

" On the occasion corresponding to this four years 
ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to the im- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



135 



pending civil war. All dreaded it. All sought to 
avoid it. While the inaugural address was being 
delivered from this place, devoted altogether to sav- 
ing the Union without war, the insurgent agents were 
in the city seeking to destroy it without war, — seek- 
ing to dissolve the Union, and divide the effects by 
negotiating. Both parties deprecated war, but one 
of them would make war rather than let it perish, — ■ 
and war came. One-eighth of the whole population 
were coloured slaves, not distributed generally over 
the Union, but located in the Southern part. These 
slaves contributed a peculiar and powerful interest. 
All knew the interest would somehow cause war. To 
strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was 
the object for which the insurgents would rend the 
Union by war, while the government claimed no right 
to do more than restrict the territorial enlargement 
of it. Neither party expected the magnitude or 
duration which it has already attained, neither an- 
ticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease 
even before the conflict itself should cease. Each 
looked for an easier triumph and a result less funda- 
mental and astonishing. Both read the same Bible 
and pray to the same God. Each invokes His aid 
against the other. It may seem strange that any 
man should dare to ask a just God's assistance in 
wringing bread from the sweat of other men's faces ; 
but let us judge not that we be not judged. The 
prayer of both should not be answered; that of 
neither has been answered fully, for the Almighty 
has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world be- 
cause of offences, for it must needs be that offence 
come; but woe unto that man by whom the offence 
cometh.' If we shall suppose American slavery one 
of those offences which, in the providence of God, 



136 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



must needs come, but which, having continued 
through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, 
and that He gives to both North and South this terri- 
ble war, as was due to those by whom the offence 
came, shall we discern that there is any departure 
from those divine attributes which believers in the 
living God always ascribe to Him ? Fondly do we 
hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge 
of war may speedily pass away; yet if it be God's 
will that it continue until the wealth piled by bonds- 
men by two hundred and fifty years' of unrequited 
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn 
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, 
so still it must be said that the judgments of the 
Lord are true and righteous altogether. 

" With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the 
right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to 
bind up the nation's wounds to care for him who 
shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and 
orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 
nations." 

A noble address truly! The President was bear- 
ing in one hand a palm branch but in the other he 
held the sword. Even while he spoke Grant, his 
" sledge-hammer of war," was desperately endeavour- 
ing to annihilate Lee's army. 

The fight was now wearing its end; Grant had 
an army of 111,000 foot and 13,000 cavalry, vete- 
rans the most of them, eager for war, and thor- 
oughly equipped and abundantly supplied. Lee 
had opposing Grant, but 51,000 foot and 6,000 cav- 
alry; his men, too, were ragged, half -starved and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



137 



in despair, and desertions were daily occurring. 
Desperate fighting went on through the month of 
March but with the battle of Five Forks, on April 1, 
the struggle drew to a close. Lee saw then that 
the South could maintain the struggle no longer and 
notified Jefferson Davis that Petersburg and Rich- 
mond must be evacuated. He fled with his broken 
and weakened army until Appomattox Court House 
was reached, and there, on April 9, on Palm Sunday, 
surrendered to Grant. He had fought gallantly, 
fought through the long years with but few mistakes, 
and had proved himself, in tactics and strategy at 
any rate, the greatest general engaged in the war. 

Lincoln saw that the end was at hand and went 
to the field of conflict to witness the closing scenes 
of the war. He visited Richmond on April 4, amid 
the most enthusiastic acclaims of the soldiers, and the 
negroes he had freed. He then returned to Wash- 
ington happy and triumphant. The Union was 
saved, he had malice in his heart for no man, and 
his big brain and bigger heart were busy working 
out a scheme by which the North and the South 
could become a united and friendly people once 
more. On the 11th of April he delivered his last 
great speech. 

" We meet this evening," he said, " not in sorrow, 
but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Peters- 
burg and Richmond and surrender of the principal 
insurgent army, gives hope of a righteous peace, 
whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In 
the midst of this, however, He from whom all bless- 
ings flow must not be forgotten. A call for a na- 
tional thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be 
duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder 
part gives us the cause of rejoicing be overlooked; 



138 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

their honours must not be parceled out with others. 
I myself was near the front and had the high pleas- 
ure of transmitting much of the good news to you; 
but no part of the honour for the plan of execution is 
mine. To General Grant, his skilful officers and 

brave men, it all belongs 

" We all agree that the seceded States, so-called, 
are out of their proper practical relation with the 
Union, and the sole object of the government, civil 
and military, in regard to these States, is to again 
get them into that proper practical relation. I 
believe it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to 
do this without deciding, or even considering, 
whether these States have ever been out of the Union 
than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it 
would be utterly immaterial whether they had been 
abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary 
to restore the proper practical relations between these 
States and the Union, and each forever after inno- 
cently indulge his own opinion, whether in doing the 
acts he brought the States from without into the 
Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they 
never having been out of it. The amount of con- 
stituency, so to speak, on which the Louisiana govern- 
ment rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it 
contained fifty thousand or thirty thousand, or even 
twenty thousand instead of twelve thousand as it 
does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elec- 
tive franchise is not given to the coloured man. I 
would myself prefer that it were now conferred on 
the very intelligent, and on those who serve our 
cause as soldiers. Still, the question is not whether 
the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all 
that is desirable. The question is: Will it be wiser 
to take it as it is, and help to improve it, or to reject 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



139 



it ? Can Louisiana be brought into the proper prac- 
tical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or 
discarding her new State government ? Some twelve 
thousand voters in the heretofore slave State of 
Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, as- 
sumed to be the rightful political power of the State, 
held elections, organized a State government, adopted 
a free State constitution, giving the benefit of the 
public schools equally to white and black, and em- 
powering the Legislature to confer the elective fran- 
chise upon the coloured man. This Legislature has 
already voted to ratify the constitutional amendment 
recently passed by Congress abolishing slavery 
throughout the nation. These twelve thousand per- 
sons are thus fully committed to the Union, and to 
perpetuate freedom in the State, — committed to the 
very things, and nearly all the things, the nation 
wants ; and they ask the nation's recognition and its 
assistance to make good this committal. Now, if we 
reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to dis- 
organize and disperse them. We, in fact, say to the 
white man : i You are worthless or worse. We will 
neither help you nor be helped by you.' To the 
blacks we say : ' This cup of liberty which these your 
old masters hold to your lips we will dash from you, 
and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled 
and scattered contents in some vague and undefined, 
when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging 
and paralyzing both white and black, has any tend- 
ency to bring Louisiana into proper practical relation 
with the Union, I have so far been unable to per- 
ceive it. If, on the contrary, we recognise and 
sustain the new government of Louisiana, the reverse 
of all this is true. We encourage the hearts and 
nerve the arms of twelve thousand to adhere to their 



140 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



work, and argue for it, and proselytise for it, and 
fight for it, and feed it and grow it, and ripen it to 
a complete success. The coloured man, too, in seeing 
all united for him, is inspired with vigilance and 
energy, and daring, to the same end. Grant that he 
desires the elective franchise, will he not obtain it 
sooner by saving the already advanced steps toward 
it than by falling backwards over them ? Concede 
that the new government of Louisiana is only to what 
it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner 
have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing 
it. Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject our 
vote in favour of the proposed amendment to the 
National Constitution. To meet this proposition, it 
has been argued that no more than three-fourths of 
those States which have not attempted secession, are 
necessary to validly ratify the amendment. I do 
not commit myself against this further than to say 
that such a ratification would be questionable and 
sure to be persistently questioned, while its ratifica- 
tion by three-fourths of all the States would be un- 
questioned and unquestionable. I repeat the ques- 
tion: Can Louisiana be brought into proper prac- 
tical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or 
by discarding her new State government? What 
has been said of Louisiana will apply to other States. 
And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, 
and such important and sudden changes occur in the 
same State, and, withal, so new and unprecedented 
is the whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible 
plan can safely be prescribed as to details and 
collaterals. Such an exclusive and inflexible plan 
would surely become an entanglement. Important 
principles may and must be inflexible. In the pres- 
ent situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



141 



to make some new announcement to the people of 
the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to 
act when satisfied that action will he proper." 

A truly statesmanlike speech this ! The heart of 
the man was rejoicing; he had saved his cherished 
Union, his one thought now was to bring permanent 
peace and friendship to all sections of his country. 
He had, however, but a few days to live. This 
speech was uttered on the 11th of April, on the 14th 
he was to be struck down by the assassin's bullet. 

Those last three days of his life must have been 
happy ones for him. The great war was practically 
at an end. The terrible slaughter that he had for 
years witnessed with a bleeding heart was finished, 
and emancipation was now a fact. He had for sev- 
eral years, contrary to the appeals of the Abolition- 
ists, refrained from issuing his emancipation procla- 
mation, but when it was once issued he rested not 
until both the House and the Senate had established 
it as law in the land and the majority of the States, 
even before his death, had put the law in force. 

At length the great idea had won — man no longer 
in the civilized world could have right of property 
in his fellow man — but at what a cost ! It has been 
estimated that the war from beginning to end cost 
the North and South combined no less a sum than 
$8,165,237,000. On the side of the North there had 
been in all 2,772,448 soldiers engaged and for the 
South 1,234,000. Nearly a million men gave their 
lives to free the slaves. All modern wars seem small 
compared with this tremendous conflict ; and yet in 
how brief a period the country recovered from its 
effects. 

On April 12, 1861, the Confederate shell that was 
the signal for the commencement of hostilities burst 



142 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



over Sumter. Since that momentous event night 
and day, day and night, Lincoln had been occupied 
with the struggle that ceased not. But it was now 
ended and he could take a moment's rest before be- 
ginning the great work of reconstructing the Union. 
On the anniversary of the surrender of Sumter he 
decided to visit Ford's Theatre with his family to 
enjoy a play, " Our American Cousin." General 
Grant who was in Washington was to have accom- 
panied him, but fortunately changed his mind at the 
last moment. 

The South now no longer had any hope ; she saw 
that it would be impossible to carry out her policy 
of secession. Lee who bade a noble farewell to his 
soldiers with the words, " Men ! we have fought 
through this war together; I have done the best I 
could for you " — words as Goldwin Smith says that 
" might have served for Hannibal " — was prepared 
to accept the inevitable. 

It is impossible to bid farewell to Lee without a 
sympathetic word. No nobler figure stands forth 
on the dark pages of this war. From beginning to 
end of the struggle he had proved himself a finished 
soldier. During the entire campaign while bitter 
words were being hurled at the " Yankees " by South- 
ern journals and speakers he had maintained a dig- 
nified attitude, treating his enemies as noble men 
fighting in what they deemed a righteous cause. Of 
all the soldiers in this great war he alone is the one 
to whom could be applied unreservedly the words of 
Geoffrey Chaucer: 

" He was a verray perfight gentil knight." 
Unfortunately, however, there were in the South 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



143 



and among the Southern sympathisers men of a 
very different stamp from Lee — fanatics of the worst 
type who did not know how to take a beating — and 
now that there was no longer hope of building up a 
separate republic on this continent some of them 
determined to avenge themselves on their vanquish- 
ers. A small knot of poor misguided men and women 
compared Lincoln to Caesar and themselves to the 
conspirators who slew the ambitious Roman. They 
planned to kill not only Lincoln but the other leaders 
in the great Republican party and at the same time 
the general who had been most conspicuous in pound- 
ing their forces to pieces — Grant. 

A few days before the plot was consummated the 
Secretary of State had been out driving and was 
thrown to the ground breaking his jaw in two places 
and dislocating his shoulder. His life was despaired 
of, but this fact did not deter the assassins. At 
ten o'clock on the evening of April 14, one Powell, 
alias Payne, succeeded in making an entrance to his 
sick room. He sprang upon the Secretary, striking 
viciously at him with a bowie-knife. Seward was 
severely wounded, and his throat was " cut on both 
sides, his right cheek nearly severed from his face." 
Fortunately, however, none of the wounds proved 
fatal. The assassin after doing his brutal work 
succeeded in making his escape. 

Seward had never had any serious fears of 
assassination. He was an optimist and did not be- 
lieve that Americans could be capable of such das- 
tardly acts. 

" There is no doubt," he once said, " that from a 
period anterior to the breaking out of the insurrec- 
tion, plots and conspiracies for purposes of assassina- 
tion have been frequently formed and organised. 



144 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



And it is not unlikely that such an one as has been 
reported to you is now in agitation among the insur- 
gents. If it be so it need furnish no ground for 
anxiety. Assassination is not an American practice 
or habit, and one so vicious and desperate cannot be 
engrafted into our political system. 

" This conviction of mine has steadily gained 
strength since the Civil war began. Every day's 
experience confirms it. The President, during the 
heated season, occupies a country-house near the Sol- 
diers' Home, two or three miles from the city. He 
goes to and comes from that place on horseback, 
night and morning, unguarded. I go there unat- 
tended at all hours, by daylight and by moonlight, by 
starlight and without any light." 

This, however, was written at a time when the 
South still hoped. The attempt on his life was the 
work of desperate men who saw themselves and their 
cause ruined. 

It will be seen from this that Lincoln during his 
presidential career took practically no precautions 
against assassination. It was not because he did not 
believe such a thing possible. He had frequently 
been threatened, but he met threats with a bold front, 
saying on one occasion : " If they kill me, the next 
man will be just as bad for them. In a country like 
this where our habits are simple, and must be, assas- 
sination is always possible, and will come if they 
are determined upon it." 

On the night of the 14th he took his place in the 
State box of Ford's Theatre amid the cheers of an 
enthusiastic and thankful people. Shortly after he 
entered, Wilkes Booth, a Southerner, a half -crazed 
actor, succeeded in gaining an entrance to the box 
and at short range shot the President behind the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



145 



left ear. Major Rathbone who was with the Presi- 
dent grappled with the assassin, but Booth succeeded 
in breaking away, wounding the Major with a long 
thin knife he carried. He then boldly leaped from 
the box to the stage, and strutting across it before 
the amazed audience who did not yet realize what 
had occurred, brandished his bloody knife and 
shouted the State motto of Virginia " Sic semper 
tyrannis!" He made his escape from the theatre, 
but was pursued and twelve days later shot in a barn 
near Port Royal on the Rappahannock. 

The assassination was a cowardly deed, repudiated 
by every right-thinking man in the South. It was, in 
truth, a severer blow to her than to the North. In 
a way, Lincoln's work for the North, was done. He 
had saved the Union, that was the great task for 
which he had been raised up by Heaven. On the 
impulse given by him other and weaker men could 
reconstruct the government. Had he lived out his 
life some of his glory might have become tarnished. 
The repugnance of the people of the United States 
to a third term would doubtless have forced him to 
retire to private life in 1868. Out of political 
struggles he, however, would hardly have been able 
to keep and the maelstrom of political strife would 
doubtless have dragged him down somewhat. He 
died with his harness on, died just as the great 
struggle for the emancipation of the slaves closed. 
He died too soon, however, for he was sorely needed 
by the Southern States. His one hope, his one desire, 
was to bring them again into the Union : bring them 
in, not force them in, and he was even at the hour of 
his death no doubt reflecting how he could show his 
Southern friends that he could forget. During 
the whole war he had had no bitter words for the 
10 



146 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Southern soldiers. In his heart was no malice for 
any man. The only effect of his death was to make 
it harder for the South. 

The North shivered under the blow, it was hard 
to realise that the man who had carried them through 
the severest storm of their national career, severer 
even than the great revolution which had made 
them a nation, was no more. " It was/ 7 says W. O. 
Stoddard, in his Life of Lincoln, " as if there had 
been a death in every house throughout the land. 
By both North and South alike the awful news was 
received with a shudder and a momentary spasm of 
unbelief. Then followed one of the most remark- 
able spectacles in the history of the human race, for 
there is nothing else at all like it on record. Bells 
had tolled before at the death of a loved ruler, but 
never did all bells toll so mournfully as they did 
that day. Business ceased. Men came together in 
public meetings as if by a common impulse, and 
party lines and sectional hatred seemed to be oblit- 
erated.'' 

Seven days after his death his body left Washing- 
ton for Springfield. All along the route great crowds 
flocked to look with solemn reverence upon his face ; 
villagers recognised in him a man like themselves, 
a man who had lived their lives and knew their 
needs ; leaders of thought in the great centres of life 
had learned to look upon Lincoln as one of a differ- 
ent breed from themselves, a man God-inspired, a 
born ruler, one of the few who saw intuitively the 
needs of his race and who knew when and how to 
act. 

His death inspired one of the noblest poems ever 
penned by any poet. Walt Whitman's tribute to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 147 

the memory of the man he followed with loving zeal 
will live as long as Lincoln's memory lives. 

O Captain ! my Captain ! our fearful trip is done, 
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, 
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring ; 

But, O heart ! heart ! heart ! 

Oh, the bleeding drops of red, 
Where on the deck my captain lies, 

Fallen cold and dead. 

O Captain ! my Captain ! rise up and hear the bells : 
Rise up ! — For you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills, 
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths — for you the shores 
a-crowding ; 

For you they call, the swaying mass their eager faces turning. 

Here Captain ! dear father ! 

This arm beneath your head ! 
It is some dream that on the deck 

You've fallen cold and dead. 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still ; 
My father does not feel my arm, he has nor pulse nor will ; 
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and 
done 

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won : 

Exult O shores, and ring O bells ! 

But I with mournful tread, 
Walk the deck my captain lies, 

Fallen cold and dead." 

An equally noble tribute was given at the time of 
his death by the ablest man America's pulpit has 
produced, Henry Ward Beecher, — as true as it was 
noble. 

" And now the martyr is moving in triumphal 
march, mightier than when alive. The nation rises 
up at every stage of his coming. Cities and States 
are his pall-bearers, and the cannon speaks the hours 
with solemn progression. Dead, dead, dead, he yet 



148 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

speaketh. Is Washington dead % Is Hampden dead ? 
Is any man that was ever fit to live dead? Disen- 
thralled of flesh, risen to the unobstructed sphere 
where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable 
work. His life is now grafted upon the infinite, 
and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass 
on, thou that hast overcome. Ye people, behold the 
martyr whose blood, as so many articulate words, 
pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty." 

The Nation, now that Lincoln was taken, recog- 
nised that as Washington had been the great Ameri- 
can of the eighteenth century so was he the great 
American of the nineteenth. He had proved him- 
self the firmest of all the presidents of the United 
States, and yet gentle withal. He had won his way 
into a million hearts by his kindly acts and his 
kindly words. Through his keen, discriminating 
mind he had forced the European Powers to recog- 
nise the greatness of the United States, and when he 
was taken left behind him an ideal for Americans to 
strive towards. His life had been shaped by in- 
tegrity and duty, by trust in Providence, and an 
intense love for his fellow-beings. 



1 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 149 



CHAPTEE X. 

president afdeew johnson. 
(One Administration, 1865-1869.) 

Lincoln was no more ! His assassins had hoped 
that with his death utter confusion would follow and 
that the government would crumble to the ground. 
They had, however, reckoned without their host. 

His work was done; the North knew that the 
South could never again regain its old power, and the 
South itself recognised that it was in a state of utter 
collapse. The Secessionists had utterly failed in 
their purpose, which was to destroy the Union by 
destroying the man whose will had held the Union 
forces together for the past four years. There was a 
fierce outcry on the death of the President, but no 
confusion among the men who were at the helm of 
state. They acted promptly and at once sent the 
following message to the Vice-President, Andrew 
Johnson : 

" Washington City, April 15, 1865. 
" Andrew Johnson, Vice-President of the United 
States : 

" Sir — Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, was shot by an assassin last evening at Ford's 
Theatre, in this city, and died at the hour of twenty- 



150 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



two minutes after seven o'clock. About the same 
time at which the President was shot, an assassin 
entered the sick chamber of Hon. W. H. Seward, 
Secretary of State, and stabbed him in several places 
in the throat, neck, and face, severely, if not 
mortally, wounding him. Other members of the 
Secretary's family were dangerously wounded by the 
assassin while making his escape. 

" By the death of President Lincoln, the office of 
President has devolved, under the Constitution, upon 
you. The emergency of the government demands 
that you should immediately qualify according to 
the requirements of the Constitution, and enter upon 
the duties of President of the United States. If 
you will please make known your pleasure, such 
arrangements as you deem proper will be made. 
" Your Obedient Servants, 

" Hugh McCulloch, 
" Secretary of the Treasury. - 
" Edwin M. Stanton, 

" Secretary of War. 
" Gideon Welles, 

" Secretary of the ^Navy. 
" William Dennison, 

" Postmaster-General. 
" J. P. Usher, 
" Secretary of the Interior. 
" James Speed, 

" Attorney-General." 

Thus was Andrew Johnson who began life as an 
illiterate tailor boy, unable either to read or write 
until he had almost reached manhood's estate, sud- 
denly ushered into the highest position in the gift of 
thirty millions of people. At first there was a little 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



151 



doubt as to how he would act. From his parentage, 
his education, his career, many held that it was fitting 
that he should be the successor to one whose life had 
been in many ways similar to his own; but he had 
not Lincoln's heart, and many on the other hand 
feared that the humane policy of Lincoln might now 
be reversed and that the Secessionists would be 
treated harshly by a man who had personally suf- 
fered much from them. 

Who was this Andrew Johnson ? A son of " poor 
whites," who lived in Raleigh, North Carolina, at 
the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was 
born on December 29, 1808 ; his father a man of 
humble occupation was employed at various duties, 
being at once constable, sexton and porter of a bank. 
When Andrew was four years old his father lost his 
life while endeavouring to save one Colonel Thomas 
Henderson. As his father had left little or no prop- 
erty behind him his mother was forced to work for 
her own living and her young son's. As a result, for 
the next six or eight years Andrew spent much of his 
time in the streets while his mother laboured with her 
hands for their daily bread. There was no public 
school system in North Carolina in those days, and 
so young Johnson passed his youth without being 
able either to read or write. At the age of ten or 
twelve he was apprenticed to a tailor by the name of 
Shelby and worked for him for some years. 

It was while working in this man's employ that he 
first got his bent after intellectual things. A kindly 
old gentleman was wont to come to the tailor shop 
and occasionally read to the workmen from a book 
called " The American Speaker." It contained prin- 
cipally speeches by eminent British statesmen and as 
Andrew Johnson listened to the lofty periods and 



152 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



lofty sentiments of the great men of the old world 
and the new his mind took fire and he longed for the 
power to express what was in him as they had ex- 
pressed what was in them. He had the will to learn 
and the way opened up. This kindly disposed gen- 
tleman and some of his fellow-workmen gave him an 
insight into the mysteries of reading, and by the time 
he was sixteen he could manage to spell his way 
through most of " The American Speaker " for him- 
self. He borrowed books and took much time from 
rest and recreation in improving his mind. 

He, however, seems to have been not without 
mischievous qualities and through a propensity for 
throwing stones had to hurriedly leave his native 
town. He procured work at Laurens Court-House, 
South Carolina, but after two years sojourn there 
returned to Ealeigh and endeavoured to get employ- 
ment from his old master, but Mr. Shelby demanded 
security for good behaviour, and, as Andrew was 
unable to give this, he was compelled to look for 
work elsewhere. His mother had married again and 
it would seem as if her circumstances were not much 
bettered by her second union, for we find now that 
Andrew, his mother, and step-father set out in a two- 
wheeled cart, drawn by a blind pony for Greenville, 
Tennessee. Here he found work and very shortly 
after his arrival there something that was much bet- 
ter to him than work or money, — an excellent help- 
mate in Eliza McCardle. He was but nineteen, had 
neither money nor education, but he fearlessly and 
wisely married. His new circumstances in life made 
him determined to better his position by seeking work 
in the West. He, however, failed to find it and re- 
turned to Greenville and worked industriously at his 
trade. While he worked at his bench he still burned 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



153 



with a desire for knowledge, and his wife, who was 
a woman of considerable education, helped him in 
every way she could, reading to him while he stitched 
at the bench. She likewise taught him writing and 
arithmetic, things of which he had no knowledge 
until after his marriage. 

He seems from the very moment that he settled in 
Greenville to have been a factor in the politics of the 
place. His quick mind and excellent judgment made 
him a good student of general affairs, and his fellow- 
workmen began to look up to him. He was a leader 
among the working classes from his twentieth year, 
and became a pronounced and ardent opponent of the 
aristocratic faction which had been managing affairs 
in Tennessee. Knowing his antecedents and his op- 
portunity, it is with a shock of surprise that we learn 
that he was chosen alderman in the town of Green- 
ville, in 1828, and further that at the age of twenty- 
two he was elected mayor, which position he held for 
three years. 

He became a most active politician and from the 
commencement of his life was most zealous on behalf 
of the working classes. His first strong stand 
on their behalf was in 1834, when he advocated the 
adoption of a new State constitution which was op- 
posed to the rich land-holders, and which gave free- 
dom of speech and of the press and greatly increased 
the liberties of the masses. That he was looked 
upon as something more than a mere politician is 
evidenced from the fact that in 1831 the County 
Court appointed him a trustee of Rhea Academy. 
He was, indeed, taking a somewhat wide interest in 
education and the students of Greenville college were 
so much attracted by him that they constantly visited 
his shop to discuss matters of interest with him, and 



154: PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

he likewise frequently took part in the debates at 
their college. 

In 1835, he was elected to the State Legislature 
from Greene and Washington counties. Just at this 
time throughout the United States there were wild 
schemes for internal improvements being proposed. 
It will be remembered that it was in the thirties that 
great plans for improvement were advanced in 
Illinois and that when Abraham Lincoln was called 
upon to consider them he heartily endorsed them and 
indeed became the leader of the movement. It was 
otherwise with Johnson. He had a shrewd business 
mind and recognised that these impending schemes 
were likely to plunge the State into debt, and so he 
vigorously opposed the measures. They, however, 
were carried and his opposition to these measures 
caused his defeat in the election to the Legislature in 
1837, but events in the next two years showed that 
his judgment had been right, and his popularity was 
increased and he was returned to the Legislature in 
1839. In the following year he was appointed a 
Presidential elector on the Democratic ticket and 
canvassed the greater part of Tennessee in the 
struggle which took place between General Harrison 
and Martin Van Buren. During this campaign he 
gained something more than a local reputation, prov- 
ing himself both acquainted with the great issues 
of the Nation and capable of presenting these issues 
with eloquence and power. In 1841 he was sent to 
the State Senate from Greene and Hawkins coun- 
ties. While in the Senate he succeeded in carrying 
through several wise projects for internal improve- 
ments in his section of the State. 

Such a man could not long be confined to local 
politics. In 1843 he opposed Colonel John A. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 155 

Asken, a United States Bank Democrat, a man of 
ability and exceedingly popular, for the Lower House 
of Congress, and succeeded in defeating him. For 
ten years he was returned to Congress, and was one 
of the most active members of the House during that 
entire period. He had been growing in wealth, and 
it is worthy of note that he held a number of slaves. 
He seems to have had from first to last no repugnance 
of the institution of slavery. While in Congress he 
strongly advocated the annexation of Texas, not as 
the majority of the Southern members did in order 
merely to have an increased number of slave States, 
but because he thought Texas would " prove to be 
the gateway out of which the sable sons of Africa 
are to pass from bondage to freedom and become 
merged in a population congenial with themselves. " 
He was an advocate of the " fifty-four forty or fight " 
doctrine on the Oregon boundary question, but after- 
wards sustained President Polk in his method of 
dealing with that question. Indeed, there was no 
issue before Congress in which he did not show him- 
self interested. 

Xew honours were in store for him. In 1853, his 
district in Tennessee was so gerrymandered that 
there was no hope of re-election to the House, and so 
he presented himself for the Governorship of the 
State and was successful. He was re-elected to this 
honourable position again in 1855. During his term 
of office as Governor he was most earnest on behalf 
of the working classes, and gained for himself the 
name of the " mechanic governor. " He always 
seems to have been exceedingly proud of the fact that 
he had been a worker at the bench, and was ever 
ready to assert the dignity of labour. The following 
story, which has several versions, very well illustrates 



156 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



his character. The Governor of Kentucky and he 
had been fellow-workmen years before and when the 
Kentucky Governor heard of Johnson's elevation to 
the Governorship he forged him a pair of shovels 
and tongs and sent them to him. Johnson as 
promptly got a piece of the finest broadcloth and 
made a suit of clothes and sent them to the Governor 
of Kentucky. The story is apochryphal, another 
version maintaining that it was a high official of his 
own State. Later in life on the floors of the Senate 
he expressed great pride in his humble origin : " Sir/' 
he said, " I do not forget that I am a mechanic. 
Neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and sewed 
fig leaves; and that our Saviour was a son of a 
carpenter." 

In 1857, he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States. Once more he began his work for the masses, 
and as he had previously won for himself the title 
of the " mechanic governor " he was now called the 
" mechanic statesman." He had fought for a home- 
stead bill while in Congress, and at once began his 
battle for this measure in the Senate and succeeded 
in having it carried through in 1860. However, it 
was vetoed by Buchanan. His position in the Senate 
was somewhat equivocal. He took sides with the 
South in its view that Congress had not the power 
to prevent the extension of slavery in the Terri- 
tories ; at the same time there was no Northern man 
more pronounced for the Union. His attitude on 
behalf of the Union lost him much influence in the 
South and his acceptance of slavery as a Constitu- 
tional fact did much to make the Northern men dis- 
trust him. 

In the Charleston and Baltimore Convention of 
1860 the Tennessee delegation proposed him as a 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



157 



candidate for the Presidency ; however, as he was 
scarcely known outside of his own State his name was 
not considered. He sustained Breckenridge, the ex- 
treme advocate of slavery from the South. While 
he was a Union man he was thoroughly in sympathy 
with the slave-holders as such, but when Lincoln was 
successful in November and when the Secessionists 
began to threaten and to act he spoke with, no un- 
certain voice. 

In March, 1861, two days before the inauguration 
of President Lincoln, he said in the Senate : " Were 
I the President of the United States, I would do as 
Thomas Jefferson did in 1806 with Aaron Burr: I 
would have them arrested and try them for treason, 
and if convicted, by the eternal God, they should 
suffer the penalty of the law at the hands of the 
executioner ! " 

This utterance is thoroughly characteristic of 
Andrew Johnson. The extreme and extravagant 
language in it was but a forerunner of the wild utter- 
ances which, as President, he was to make against 
Congress. However, although extravagant in lan- 
guage and somewhat hot-headed there was no braver 
man in the Union. The following incident from his 
life, and it is by no means exceptional, shows that he 
could act as well as speak: 

"He was announced to speak on one of the exciting 
questions of the day, and loud threats were uttered 
that if he dared to appear he should not leave the 
hall alive. At the appointed hour, he ascended to 
the platform, and advancing to the desk, laid his 
pistol upon it. He then addressed the audience in 
terms as near the following as our informant could 
recollect : ' Fellow citizens, it is proper when freemen 
assemble for the discussion of important interests, 



15S PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



that everything should be done decently and in order. 
I have been informed that part of the business to be 
transacted on the present occasion is the assassination 
of the individual who now has the honour of address- 
ing you. I beg respectfully to propose this to be the 
first business in order. Therefore, if any man has 
come here to-night for the purpose indicated, I do not 
say to him, let him speak, but let him shoot.' Here he 
paused with his right hand on his pistol and the 
other holding open his coat, while with his eyes he 
blandly surveyed the assembly. After a pause of 
half a minute, he resumed : ' Gentlemen, it appears 
that I have been misinformed. I will now proceed 
to address you on the subject that has called us to- 
gether/ which he did, with all his accustomed bold- 
ness and vivacity, not sparing his adversaries, but 
giving them plenty of pure Tennessee." 

He broke with the South utterly on the question 
of secession, and the North had no abler advocate of 
the Union than Senator Johnson. The following 
speech by him is one of the ablest expositions of the 
relation of the seceding States to the Union. 

" Now let me ask," he said, " can any one believe 
that in the creation of this government its founders 
intended that it should have the power to acquire 
territory and form it into States, and then permit 
them to go out of the Union? Let us take a case. 
How long has it been since your armies were in 
Mexico ? How have we exposed them to the diseases, 
and the sufferings incident to a campaign of that 
kind; many of them falling at the point of the 
bayonet, consigned to their long, narrow home, with 
no winding sheet but their blankets saturated with 
blood ? What did Mexico cost you ? One hundred 
and twenty million dollars. What did you pay for 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



159 



the country you acquired besides ? Fifteen million 
dollars. 

" Peace was made, territory acquired, and in a few 
years, California, from that territory, erected her- 
self into a free and independent State. Under the 
provisions of the Constitution we admitted her as a 
member of this Confederacy. And now, after having 
expended our one hundred and twenty million dollars 
in the war, after having lost many of our most brave 
and gallant men; after having paid fifteen million 
dollars to Mexico for the Territory and admitted it 
into the Union as a State, according to this modern 
doctrine, the National government was just made to 
let them step in and then to let them step out ! Is it 
not absurd to say that California, on her own volition 
without regard to the consideration paid for her, 
without regard to the policy which dictated her ac- 
quisition by the United States, can walk out and bid 
you defiance ? 

" But we need not stop here. Let us go to Texas. 
Texas was engaged in a revolution with Mexico. She 
succeeded in the assertion and establishment of her 
independence. She applied for admission into this 
family of States. After she was in, she was opposed 
to the debts of the war which had resulted in her 
separation from Mexico. She was harrassed by In- 
dians on her border. There was an extent of terri- 
tory that lies north, if my memory serves me right, 
embracing what is now called the territory of New 
Mexico. Texas had it not in her power to protect the 
citizens who were there. It was a dead limb, 
paralysed, lifeless. 

" The Federal government came along as a kind 
physician, saying: i We will take this limb, vitalise 
it by giving protection to the people, and incorporat- 



160 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

ing it into a Territorial government ; and in addition 
to that, we will give you ten million dollars, and you 
may retain your oAvn public lands. And the other 
States we taxed in common to pay this ten million 
dollars ! Now, after all this is done, is Texas to say, 
— ' I will walk out of this Union % ' Were there no 
other parties to this contract ? Did we take in Cali- 
fornia, did we take in Texas, just to benefit them- 
selves ? 

" Again : Take the case of Louisiana. What did 
we pay for her in 1803, and for what was she 
wanted ? Was it just to let Louisiana into the Union ? 
Was it for the benefit of that particular locality? 
Was not the mighty West looked to ? Was it not to 
secure the free navigation of the Mississippi river, 
the mouth of which was then in the possession of 
France ? Yes, the navigation of that river was 
wanted. Simply for Louisiana ? No, but for all 
the States ! The United States paid fifteen million 
dollars, and France ceded the country to the United 
States. It remained in a Territorial condition for 
a while, sustained and protected by the Federal gov- 
ernment. We acquired the Territory and the navi- 
gation of the river, and the money was paid for the 
benefit of all the States and not of Louisiana exclu- 
sively. 

" And now that this great valley is filled up ; now 
that the navigation of the Mississippi is one hundred 
times more important than it was then; now, after 
the United States have paid the money, have ac- 
quired the title to Louisiana and have incorporated 
her into the Confederacy, — it is proposed that she 
should go out of the Union! 

"In 1815, when her shores were invaded; when 
her city was about to be sacked ; when her booty and 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



161 



her beauty were about to fall a prey to British ag- 
gression, — the brave men of Tennessee and of Ken- 
tucky, and of the surrounding States, rushed into her 
borders and upon her shores, and under the lead of 
her own gallant Jackson, drove the invading forces 
away. And now, after all this, after the money has 
been paid ; after free navigation of the river has been 
obtained — not for the benefit of Louisiana alone, but 
for her in common with all the States — Louisiana 
says to the other States : 

" i We will go out of this Confederacy. We do 
not care if you did fight our battles ; we do not care 
if you did acquire the free navigation of this river 
from France. We will go out and constitute our- 
selves an independent power, and bid defiance to the 
other States.' 

" It may be that at this moment there is not a 
citizen in the State of Tennessee who would think of 
obstructing the free navigation of the river. But are 
not nations controlled by their interests in varying 
circumstances ? And hereafter, when a conflict of in- 
terest arises, Louisiana might feel disposed to tax our 
citizens going down there. It is a power I am not 
willing to concede to be exercised at the discretion 
of any authority outside of this government. So 
sensitive have been the people of my State upon the 
free navigation of that river, that as far back as 
1796, now sixty-four years ago, in their Bill of 
Bights, before they passed under the jurisdiction of 
the United States, they declared: 

" ■ That an equal participation of the free naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi is one of the inherent rights 
of the citizens of this State, It cannot, therefore, be 
conceded to any Prince, Potentate, Power, person or 
persons whatever.' 
11 



162 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



" This shows the estimate the people fixed on this 
stream sixty-four years ago; and now we are told 
that if Louisiana does go out, it is not her intention 
to tax the people above. Who can tell what may be 
the intention of Louisiana hereafter ? Are we willing 
to place the rights, the travel, and the commerce 
of our citizens at the discretion of any power outside 
this government ? I will not. 

" How long is it since Florida lay on our coast, an 
annoyance to us? And now she has got feverish 
about being an independent and separate govern- 
ment, while she has not as many qualified voters as 
there are in one congressional district of any other 
State. What condition did Florida occupy in 1811 ? 
She was in the possession of Spain. What did the 
United States think about having an adjacent terri- 
tory outside of their jurisdiction ? Spain was inim- 
ical to the United States; and in view of the great 
principle of self-preservation the Congress of the 
United States passed a resolution declaring that if 
Spain attempted to transfer Florida into the hands 
of any other power, the United States would take 
possession of it. There was the Territory lying upon 
our border, outside the jurisdiction of the United 
States; and we declared, by an act of Congress that 
no foreign power should possess it. 

" We went still farther and appropriated one hun- 
dred thousand dollars, and authorised the President 
to enter and take possession of it, with the means 
placed in his hands. Afterwards we negotiated with 
Spain, and gave six million dollars for the Territory ; 
and we established a Territorial government for it. 
We undertook to drive out the Seminole Indians ; and 
we had a war in which this government lost more 
than in all the other wars it was engaged in ; and we 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 163 

paid the sum of twenty-five million dollars to get the 
Seminoles out of the swamps, so that the Territory 
could be inhabited by white men. 

" But now that the Territory is paid for, the In- 
dians are driven out, and twenty-five million dollars 
have been expended, they want no longer the protec- 
tion of the government, but will go out without con- 
sulting the other States ; without reference to the re- 
maining parties to the compact. Where will she go ? 
Will she attach herself to Spain again? Will she 
pass back under the jurisdiction of the Seminoles ? 
After having been nurtured and protected and fos- 
tered by all these States, now, without regard to 
them, is she to be allowed, at her own volition, to 
withdraw from the Union ? I say she has no consti- 
tutional right to do it. When she does it, it is an act 
of aggression. If she succeeds, it will only be a suc- 
cessful revolution; if she does not succeed, she must 
take the penalties and terrors of the law. 

" I have referred to the Acts of Congress for 
acquiring Florida as setting forth a principle. What 
is that principle? It is that from the geographical 
relations of this Territory to the United States, we 
authorised the president to spend a hundred thousand 
dollars, to get a foothold there, and especially to take 
possession of it if it were likely to pass to any foreign 
power." 

The vigour with which Andrew Johnson in this 
speech and on other occasions set forth the cause of 
the Union roused against him the bitterest hostility 
in the South. As he journeyed homeward from 
Washington crowds gathered about him hooting and 
hissing and cursing him. He was the one lonely 
Southern figure standing vehemently by the Union. 
They burnt him in effigy, in a number of places; 



164 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



they threatened him with assassination, but he re- 
mained unmoved in his allegiance to the Union. At 
the commencement of the war the Confederates 
spread themselves over Tennessee, plundering and 
murdering/ They took vengeance on Johnson for his 
opposition to their views by sacking his home, steal- 
ing his slaves, driving his sick wife and children into 
the streets and turning his house into a hospital and 
barracks for their soldiers. These deeds only added 
fuel to the fire of his wrath and he became a still 
more pronounced upholder of Lincoln and his policy. 
He said : " We may as well talk of things as they are ; 
for, if anything can be treason, is not levying war 
upon the government, treason ? Is not the attempt to 
take the property of the Government and to expel the 
soldiers therefrom, treason? Is not attempting to 
resist the collection of the revenue, attempting to 
exclude the mails, and driving the Federal corps from 
the border, treason ? What is it ? It is treason, and 
nothing but treason. Does it need any search to 
find, those who are levying war, and giving aid and 
comfort to enemies against the United States ? And 
this is treason. Treason ought to be punished, North 
and South ; and if there are traitors, they are entitled 
to traitors' rewards." 

In February, 1862, the Union forces succeeded in 
driving the guerilla bands of the Secessionists out of 
the middle and western portions of Tennessee and 
getting possession of the country. On March 4, 
1862, President Lincoln appointed Senator Johnson 
military governor of the State. He at once pro- 
ceeded to Nashville, which place he reached on March 
12, and straightway began his organisation of a pro- 
visional government. On the 18th of the month he 
issued a proclamation appealing to the people to 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



165 



remain true to the Union. The members of the city 
council of Nashville would not take the oath of 
allegiance to the United States and he very promptly 
removed them and appointed loyal men in their stead. 
When he began his rule as military governor the 
Union sympathisers throughout the State were being 
maltreated by guerilla bands of the Confederate 
army, and to check this state of things he issued the 
following proclamation : 

" I, Andrew Johnson, do hereby proclaim that in 
every instance in which a Union man is arrested and 
maltreated by marauding bands, five or more rebels, 
from the most prominent in the immediate neighbor- 
hood, shall be arrested, imprisoned, and otherwise 
dealt with as the nature of the case may require ; and, 
further, in all cases where the property of citizens, 
loyal to the government of the United States, is taken 
or destroyed, full and ample remuneration shall be 
made to them out of the property of such rebels in 
the vicinity as have sympathised with, and given aid, 
comfort, information or encouragement to the parties 
committing such depredations." 

He made an excellent governor and although 
trusted with almost absolute pov/er exercised it in 
all cases in the interest of justice. For a time Nash- 
ville was in a state of siege, and it was due to the 
energies of Governor Johnson that the city was 
saved from the rebels. He completed the railway 
from Nashville to the Tennessee river and raised 
twenty-five regiments for service in the State. As 
had ever been the case in his life the poor were his 
particular care. The war had left in the State many 
" helpless widows, wives, and children " without the 
necessities of life, and to provide for these he taxed 



166 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the rich Southern sympathisers within his jurisdic- 
tion. 

In 1862, it was necessary to issue a proclamation 
for an election for members to Congress. Governor 
Johnson in his proclamation made the test for the 
voters loyalty to the Union. He wrote : " No person 
will be considered an elector, qualified to vote, who, 
in addition to the other qualifications required by 
law, does not give satisfactory evidence to the judges 
holding the election of his loyalty to the United 
States." 

His rule in Tennessee did much to strengthen the 
Union cause in the State and gained for himself the 
respect and admiration of the North and the friend- 
ship and esteem of Abraham Lincoln. Much power 
had been given to him, but he had used it wisely;' 
and, despite the personal sufferings he had had from 
the Secessionists at the beginning of the war, meted 
out justice with an equal hand. 

In 1864, when the Republican Convention met in 
Baltimore to consider nominations, as has already 
been pointed out, Lincoln was unanimously chosen 
for President. The choice for Vice-President fell 
upon Andrew Johnson. He was a Southerner; but 
the North had no truer advocate of the Union. He 
had been a Democrat, and still maintained that he 
was one, and had opposed Lincoln in the election of 
1860, but since the outbreak of the war Lincoln had 
had no stronger and wiser supporter than Johnson. 
His democratic past was forgotten and now that the 
war was evidently rapidly drawing towards a close it 
was deemed wise by many to have the Vice-President 
selected from the South, and there was in reality but 
this one man available. Of course there were plenty 
of Northerners who might have been nominated. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



167 



After his nomination he went to Nashville in re- 
sponse to an invitation to speak at a meeting at which 
the nomination was to be ratified. At this meeting a 
very impressive scene occurred. In his speech he 
exclaimed : " I, Andrew Johnson, do hereby pro- 
claim freedom full, broad, and unconditional to every 
man in Tennessee." As the words fell from his lips 
the coloured people in the audience crowded about 
him, leaping for joy, shouting and weeping, calling 
him, it is said, their Moses who had led them out of 
the land of bondage. 

At the ensuing election he was elected by a large 
majority. The rebellion now rapidly went to pieces 
and by the time of the inauguration in March it was 
seen that it could not last more than a few months. 
At the inauguration a very unhappy circumstance 
occurred. Johnson had been seriously ill and was 
in an extremely weak physical condition, his physi- 
cian had advised him not to attend the ceremony, but 
he was naturally anxious to be present on such an im- 
portant occasion in his life, and in order to brace him- 
self took an undue amount of stimulants. The result 
was that his actions and words at this time somewhat 
shocked the nation, and did much to give a certain 
section of the people at any rate a distrust in him. 

In April, when Petersburg and Richmond were 
evacuated by the Confederate army there was great 
rejoicing in the North, and, at an immense meeting 
held in Washington, Vice-President Johnson seized 
the opportunity to once more show how intensely his 
sympathies were with the Union and with President 
Lincoln, and how strongly he felt with regard to the 
Secessionists. 

On this occasion he said : " At the time that the 
traitors in the Senate of the United States plotted 



168 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



against the government and entered into a conspiracy 
more odious than that of Cataline against the 
Romans, I happened to be a member of that body, 
and in loyalty stood solitary and alone among the 
Senators from the Southern States. I was then and 
there called upon to show what I would do with such 
traitors ; and I want to repeat my reply here. 

" I said, if we had an Andrew Jackson he would 
hang them as high as Hainan ; and when you ask me 
what I would do, my reply is, I would arrest them, 
I would convict them, and I would hang them 

" We can now congratulate ourselves that we pos- 
sess the strongest, the freest and the best govern- 
ment the world ever saw. Thank God that we have 
lived through this trial, and that I can an- 
nounce to you the great fact that Petersburg, the 
outpost to the strong Citadel, has been occupied by 
our brave and gallant officers and our untiring, in- 
vincible soldiers. And not content with that, they 
have captured the Citadel itself — the stronghold of 
traitors. Richmond is ours, and is now occupied by 
the forces of the United States. Her gates have 
been entered, the glorious stars and stripes, the 
emblem of Union, power, and of supremacy now float 
over the enemy's capital ! 

" I am in favour of leniency ; but, in my opinion, 
evildoers should be punished. Treason is the highest 
crime known in the catalogue of crimes, and for him 
that is guilty of it, for him that is willing to lift his 
impious hands against the authority of the nation, I 

would say that death is too easy a punishment 

You, my friends, have traitors in your very midst, 
and treason needs rebuke and punishment here as 
well as elsewhere. It is not the men in the field who 
are the greatest traitors. It is the men who have 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



169 



encouraged them to imperil their lives, while they 
themselves have remained at home, expending their 
means and exerting all their power to overthrow the 
government. Hence, I say this; the halter to in- 
telligent influential traitors. But to the honest bof* , 
to the deluded man, I would extend leniency ; I would 
say, return to your allegiance, renew your support 
to the government, and become a good citizen; but 
the leaders I would hang. I hold, too, that wealthy 
traitors should be made to remunerate those men 
who have suffered as a consequence of their crime — 
Union men who have lost their property, who have 
been driven from their homes, beggars and wanderers 
among strangers." 

Within two weeks after this vigorous speech was 
uttered President Lincoln was assassinated, and An- 
drew Johnson was called to preside over the destinies 
of his country at one of the most critical moments 
in her history. There were, in the hearts of many 
people, wonder and fear. How he would act no man 
could be sure, but many were afraid that he would 
prove himself over-severe with the Secessionists. 
However, there was nothing for it but to await the 
course of events. 

He was sworn in as President in his rooms in the 
Kirkwood House by Chief Justice Chase, and in the 
address he delivered at that time still left the nation 
wondering how he would act, 

" I must," he said, " be permitted to say that I 
have been almost overwhelmed by the announce- 
ment of the sad event which has so recently occurred. 
I feel incompetent to perform duties so important 
and responsible as those which have been so un- 
expectedly thrown upon me. As to an indication of 
any policy which may be pursued by me in the ad- 



170 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ministration of the government, I have to say that 
that must be left for development, as the administra- 
tion progresses. The message or declaration must 
be made by the acts as they transpire. The only 
assurance that I can give now of the future is by 
reference to the past. The course which I have 
taken in the past in connection with this rebellion 
must be regarded as a guarantee for the future. My 
past public life, which has been long and laborious, 
has been founded, as I in good conscience believe, 
upon a great principle of right, which lies at the basis 
of all things. The best energies of my life have 
been spent in endeavouring to establish and per- 
petuate the blessing of free government; and I 
believe that the government, in passing through its 
present trials, will settle down upon principles con- 
sistent with popular rights more permanent and en- 
during than heretofore. I must be permitted to say, 
if I understand the feelings of my own heart, I have 
long laboured to ameliorate and alleviate the condi- 
tion of the great mass of the American people. Toil 
and an honest advocacy of free government have 
been my lot. The duties have been mine — the conse- 
quences are God's. This has been the foundation 
of my political creed. I feel that in the end the 
government will triumph, and that these great prin- 
ciples will be permanently established." 

It will be seen that in this inaugural address as 
president he was absolutely non-committal. Lincoln 
had outlined a humane policy of reconstruction, but 
with regard to the wishes of his great predecessor 
Johnson had said nothing. This, coupled with the fact 
that he had strongly opposed the terms of surrender 
granted to General Lee by General Grant, made the 
public fear that a reign of terror might follow his 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



171 



accession to the Presidential chair. However, from 
the first he seems to have determined to adopt a policy 
of forbearance to the Southern masses while being 
relentless towards their leaders. 

The difficult work of reconstruction began with the 
surrender of the army of General Joseph E. John- 
ston. Trade restrictions were removed, a general 
amnesty to all, save certain specified classes of citi- 
zens whose taxable property was over twenty thousand 
dollars, was declared. In this last act he would seem 
to have been actuated by personal feeling. 

Difficulties, however, began to arise almost at once 
between the President and Congress. In the Con- 
stitution there was no provision made for the re- 
admission of a State which had withdrawn from the 
Union. The President took the ground which Lin- 
coln had taken, that the States were never out of the 
Union. He seemed now to return with vehemence 
to his old Democratic State-rights attitude. He 
held that the States were not responsible, but the 
individual leaders of the Rebel party ; and he held 
further that if the States applied for readmission, on 
application they could not be refused. On the other 
hand the Republican leaders maintained that the 
action of the seceding States had deprived them of all 
rights. 

When the Congress met in December, 1865, the 
members were determined to protect the emancipated 
slaves, and from the beginning there was between 
President Johnson and Congress a bitterness of feel- 
ing that very soon became open strife. 

The position to which Andrew Johnson was so 
suddenly elevated by the unexpected death of Lin- 
coln was too much for the man. A faithful alder- 
man, a good mayor, an industrious Congressman, a 



172 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

wise governor he had been, but the qualities for 
President he lacked. He was now the executive of- 
ficer of a country intensely Republican, but he seems 
to have returned to the Democratic principles of his 
youth, and somewhat to his pro-slavery point of view. 
Up to this time his career was such an excellent one 
that the historian of his life cannot but wish that the 
veil could be drawn across the four years in which 
he occupied the Presidential chair, and that his ac- 
tions and speeches during these years could be 
blotted from the record of time. 

It was now war to the knife between Johnson and 
Congress. Congress maintained that no State should 
be admitted until it had granted the right of suffrage 
to the negroes within its borders, but the President 
held, true to the State-rights position of his early 
political career, that that was a matter for the States 
and beyond the control of Congress. He began his 
work of reorganising the rebel States and it was soon 
maintained, and not without considerable justice, that 
the slaves' condition was no better under the new gov- 
ernment than it had been under the old. The first 
great breach was on the Freedman's Bureau Bill 
which the President vetoed, but which was passed 
over his veto. This was but the forerunner of a 
number of similar acts designed to give the negro 
the right of suffrage, and as fast as the acts were 
passed by Congress the}^ were vetoed by the Presi- 
dent. The climax of the struggle was reached in 
March, 1867, by the passage over the President's 
veto of the Tenure of Office Bill. 

" The Bill provided that civil officers should re- 
main in office until the confirmation of their suc- 
cessor; that the members of the cabinet should be 
removed only with the consent of the Senate; and 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 173 

that when Congress was not in session, the President 
could suspend, but not remove, any official; and in 
case the Senate at the next session should not ratify 
the suspension the official should be reinducted into 
his office." 

On August 5, 1867, Edwin M. Stanton, the sole 
remaining member of President Lincoln's cabinet 
was requested to resign his office as Secretary of 
War. Stanton refused to do so; the President sus- 
pended him and appointed General Grant in his 
place. Congress would not ratify the suspension and 
Grant resigned, Stanton returning to office. But 
Johnson was not to be thwarted ; despite the Tenure 
of Office Bill he removed the Secretary of War and 
appointed to the position Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant- 
General of the United States Army. This act was 
declared illegal by the Senate and on February 24, 
1868, the House took the extreme measure of passing 
a resolution for the impeachment of the President. 
The trial began in March, 1868, the main reason 
given for the impeachment was the President's viola- 
tion of the Tenure of Office Act. 

While the trial was in progress the President mad^ 
his famous tour through the Northwest which is 
generally known as his " swinging round the circle " 
tour, because in his speeches he boasted, and truly, 
that he had occupied every important office in the 
country from Alderman to President. At different 
times of his life he had been guilty of intemperate 
language. He was frequently hot-headed and violent 
in speech, and now he seems to have given loose reins 
to his anger, and on many occasions, before vast 
crowds, during this tour he was guilty of most undig- 
nified and extravagant language. His speeches at 



174 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



this time did much to justify Congress in endeavour- 
ing to impeach him. 

The peroration to a speech at Cleveland, in 1886, 
is a good example of the violent nature of Andrew 
Johnson brought out by the opposition of Congress, 
— and this speech is mild and gentle compared with 
the one that he delivered at St. Louis in the same 
year. 

" Let me say to you of the threats from your 
Stevenses, Sumners, Phillips, and all that class, I 
care not for them. As they once talked about form- 
ing a ' league with hell and a covenant with the 
devil y I tell you, my countrymen here to-night, 
though the power of hell, death, and Stevens with all 
his powers combined, there is no power that can con- 
trol me save you the people and the God that spoke 
me into existence. In bidding you farewell here 
to-night, I would ask you, with all the pains Congress 
has taken to calumniate and malign me, what has 
Congress done ? Has it done anything to restore the 
Union of the States? But, on the contrary, has it 
not done everything to prevent it ? 

" And because I stand now as I did when the Re- 
bellion commenced, I have been denounced as a 
traitor. My countrymen here to-night, who has 
suffered more than I ? Who has run greater risks ? 
Who has borne more than I ? But Congress, factious, 
domineering, tyrannical — Congress has Undertaken 
to poison the minds of the American people, and 
create a feeling against me in consequence of the 
manner in which I have distributed the public 
patronage. 

" While this gang — this common gang of cormor- 
ants and blood-suckers — have been fattening upon the 
country for the past four or five years — men never 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 175 

going into the field, who growl at being removed from 
their fat offices, they are great patriots! Look at 
them all over your district ! Everybody is a traitor 
that is against them. I think the time has come 
when those who stayed at home and enjoyed offices 
for the last four or five years — I think it would be 
no more than right for them to give way and let 
others participate in the benefits of office. Hence you 
can see why it is that I am traduced and assaulted. 
I stood up by these men who were in the field, and 
I stand by them now." 

Such language as this could but shock the Nation. 
His speeches during this tour were without any re- 
deeming trait. It is true, that Congress was not 
over-anxious to conciliate the South, but it is equally 
true that Andrew Johnson did much by his intem- 
perate utterances to create a dividing wall between 
the North and the South that was not completely 
pulled down until the soldiers of the Union fought 
side by side to drive Spain from America. 

He had a narrow escape from impeachment. 
Thirty-five voted against him and nineteen for ac- 
quittal. It required but one more vote to convict 
him. However, the matter rested there ; the Senate 
adjourned sine die, and he stood acquitted. When 
his term of office as President expired, a feeble effort 
was made by some of his adherents to have him re- 
nominated for the Presidency. But it was hopeless ; 
he had too thoroughly disgusted the nation to ever 
have the opportunity given him of again filling the 
Presidential chair. 

He returned to his Tennessee home, ran for the 
Senate, but was defeated. Towards the end of his 
life he seems to have got back some of his old influ- 
ence and was elected to the Senate in January, 1875. 



176 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



During this year lie made a vigorous and, as was his 
wont, a violent attack upon General Grant, remind- 
ing his hearers of the day when on the floor of the 
Senate he stood the lone Southerner battling for the 
Union. He had not long to live, however. In July, 
1875, he was smitten down with paralysis and died 
on the 30th of the month. 

The story of the latter part of his life does not 
make pleasant reading. Had he never been Presi- 
dent he might have gone down to history as one of 
the noble buttresses of Lincoln, but his excellent work 
for the Union in the Senate and his exceptional skill 
as a ruler in Tennessee during the early years of the 
war are forgotten by many and he is thought of as 
Andrew Johnson the President who barely escaped 
impeachment for his attempts to play the tyrant. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTEE XL 

PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

(Two Administrations, 1869-1873, 1873-1877.)' 

The three names that will ever stand forth on the 
pages of American history as the greatest unifiers of 
their country's life are Washington, Lincoln and 
Grant. The latter did probably more than any other 
man to save the Union, but in doing it he was forced 
to spend his soldiers with a Napoleonic prodigality. 
However, his countrymen recognised the wisdom of 
his methods and raised him to the highest office in 
their gift. His common sense and his daring at- 
tracted men from the East and West alike, and his 
generous conduct towards his foes, his praise of the 
brave men and skilful and dashing leaders in the 
Confederate army won him many friends in the 
South. His popularity became so great that he was 
elected the eighteenth president of his country. 

Although President Grant was not able to trace 
his ancestry back to the ^Norman Conquest, his family 
was among the oldest in America. In the beginning 
of the seventeenth century the Puritans of England 
found that the things they cherished most were de- 
nied them in their own country, and loving freedom 
of worship more than comfort or even life they left 
12 



178 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the dear homeland to brave the storms of the Atlantic 
and the wildernesses and savages of America. It was 
in 1620 that the crowded " Mayflower " made her 
stormy passage from Plymouth to Cape Cod Bay. 
Persecution continued, and, in 1630, Laud, Bishop of 
London, enforced conformity to the full ritual of 
the prayer book in his diocese. In this same year we 
find an extensive migration of Puritans to Massachu- 
setts and elsewhere, and among them came one 
Mathew Grant and his wife Priscilla. As nothing 
is known of the Grant family in the old world, save 
a marriage record, the ancestor hunter will have to 
be contented with the family as it is found in Amer- 
ica after the landing of Mathew and Priscilla at Nan- 
tasket, May 30, 1630. 

Although coming from England they were no 
doubt of Scotch origin but when the forebears of 
Mathew crossed the Tweed is known to no man. The 
Grants with their fellow passengers on the " Mary 
and John " settled at what is now South Boston ; but 
the place which has since become such a centre of 
culture and trade was not peculiarly well suited for 
an infant colony, and after enduring many hardships 
and being for a time on the verge of starvation some 
of the colonists decided to move to the fertile Con- 
necticut valley. Mathew was no doubt impelled to 
join these immigrants on account of a loss he had sus- 
tained four years after his arrival in the country. 
His wife Priscilla had succumbed to the hardships 
of the new life, and he was glad to get away from 
the scenes of his loss. Ten years after Priscilla's 
death he married Mrs. Susannah Rockwell a widow 
with eight children. He lived to the good old age of 
eighty-eight and left behind him twelve children. 
It was from this man that the greatest American sol- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



179 



dier, and one of the greatest army leaders that the 
world has ever seen, sprang. 

Although General Grant was no Puritan, in the 
ordinarily accepted sense of the term, his ancestors 
lived in him, and when he says in his memoirs that 
he never used a profane expletive in his life it is no 
boast, it is merely the voice of the Puritan speaking 
through him. Indeed, a close student of Cromwell's 
career will find that as soldiers they resembled each 
other in many ways. A Puritan in a sense Grant re- 
mained to the end of his days. It could hardly have 
been otherwise; a man cannot break altogether with 
his past, and it is only necessary to examine the gene- 
alogical tree of President Grant to see how thor- 
oughly his ancestors were Puritan. Note some of 
the names : Mathew, Priscilla, Noah, Solomon, Mar- 
tha, Susannah, Rachel, Jesse, Hannah — such names 
would have not a little to do with shaping a man's 
character. 

While the Grants were ever an austere people, 
there were fighters among them too ; and in the 
French war of 1756 two of them, Noah and his 
brother Solomon, held commissions in the English 
army and were killed, gallantly fighting near Fort 
William Henry. A little later another Noah (Noah 
seems to have been the favourite name with the fam- 
ily) was an officer in the Revolutionary army. He 
fought at Lexington, was in the struggle at Bunker's 
Hill, and distinguished himself throughout the entire 
War of Independence. While fighting for his coun- 
try his wife died. His old home lost all its attrac- 
tions for him, and, in 1790, he moved towards the 
West and settled^ in Pennsylvania in Westmoreland 
County near Greensburg. Like his ancestor Mathew 
he found solace in the wilderness and married a 



180 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



widow, Eachel Kelly, by whom lie had seven chil- 
dren, the fourth of whom was Jesse Grant, the father 
of U. S. Grant. 

When Jesse was five years old the fertile lands of 
Ohio drew Noah still farther west and he moved 
there with his family. At this time the Indians 
were pressing hard on the frontier settlers. The 
settlement of Deerfieid in which Jesse Grant had 
located was in danger, but he organised a force, went 
out against the red men, punished them somewhat 
severely and there was no further trouble. These 
facts are important to the student of the life story 
of General Grant. It will be seen that by birth 
he was well fitted to enter upon the career that was 
to enable him to successfully lead the largest army 
of modern times in battle. The stories of his mili- 
tary ancestors Noah and Solomon in the French 
wars, and of Noah in the Indian war could not but 
be an inspiration to the quick-witted boy. 

When Jesse Grant was old enough to work he was 
apprenticed to a tanner and in due time prospered 
so far as to be able to set up for himself, first at 
Ravenna and afterwards at Point Pleasant in Clare- 
mont County. It was in this latter place that Hiram 
Ulysses Grant was born. Thus he was christened, 
and it was by a mere accident that he became known 
to the world as Ulysses S. Grant. 

When he was recommended for West Point by 
Thomas L. Hamer, the Member of Congress for 
Georgetown District (the Grants were at this time 
living in Georgetown) by mistake his name was sent 
to the authorities as Ulysses Simpson Grant, and, 
once on the books, red-tape would not allow it to be 
changed, and by this name he was to go down to 
history. He never seemed to have had much affec- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



181 



tion for his original name, and altered it himself to 
Ulysses H. Grant for fear of the remarks the initials 
H. TJ. G. might occasion among his classmates. 

His mother, Hannah Simpson, was a superior 
woman, — quiet, austere, kindly, undemonstrative; 
her illustrious son inherited many of the best traits 
of his character from her. She and her husband 
were both anxious that their children should have 
every opportunity of succeeding in life, and kept 
them at school as much as circumstances would 
permit. But the village schools in Ohio were, like 
nearly all the ordinary schools in America at that 
date, in a very backward condition. In his Personal 
Memoirs President Grant thus wrote of his early 
education : 

" The schools, at the time of which I write, were 
very indifferent. There were no free schools, and 
none in which the scholars were classified. They 
were all supported by subscription and a single 
teacher — who was often a man or a woman incapable 
of teaching much, even if they imparted all they 
knew — would have thirty or forty scholars, male and 
female, from the infant learning the A B C's up to 
the young lady of eighteen and the boy of twenty, 
studying the highest branches taught — the three R's, 
' Reading, 'Biting, and 'Bithmetic.' I never saw an 
algebra, or other mathematical work higher than the 
arithmetic in Georgetown, until after I was ap- 
pointed to West Point. I then bought a work on 
algebra in Cincinnati, but having no teacher it was 
Greek to me." 

Por the most part his leisure moments from school 
were spent in toil. At the age of eight he was em- 
ployed in drawing firewood for the house and shop, 
and from that time until he went to West Point 



182 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



helped on the farm and in his father's tannery, and 
had besides visited the country for miles about, 
driving passengers to and from Maysville, Cincin- 
nati, and Louisville. The following passage from his 
Memoirs will show the training that the future presi- 
dent received in the great school of the world in his 
Georgetown home : 

" When I was seven or eight years of age, I began 
hauling all the wood used in the house and shop. I 
could not load it on the waggons, of course, at that 
time, but I could drive, and the choppers would 
load and some one at the house unload. Y^hen about 
eleven years old, I was strong enough to hold a 
plough. From that age until seventeen I did all the 
work done with horses, such as breaking up the land, 
furrowing, ploughing corn and potatoes, bringing in 
the crops when harvested, hauling all the wood, be- 
sides tending two or three horses, a cow or two, and 
sawing wood for stoves, etc., while still attending 
school. For this I was compensated by the fact that 
there was never any scolding or punishing by my 
parents, no objections to rational enjoyments, such 
as fishing, going to the creek a mile away to swim 
in summer time, taking a horse and visiting my 
grandparents in the adjoining county, fifteen miles 
off, skating on the ice in winter, or taking a horse 
and sleigh when there was snow on the ground." 

From his earliest days he was exceedingly fond of 
horses and as a child could handle the most difficult 
mounts and won quite a local reputation as a horse 
trainer. He never took kindly to the tannery. Boy- 
like he enjoyed watching the slow-gaited horse grind- 
ing the bark in the bark-mill, but he showed no de- 
sire to learn the tanner's trade. He was in many 
ways old for his years, but was not above riding a 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



183 



trick mule at a circus and indulging in other amuse- 
ments that delight boys. On one occasion he was 
almost drowned but was rescued by Daniel Ammen, 
afterwards Admiral Ammen. 

His parents saw that there was good stuff in their 
eldest boy, stuff that could only be brought out by 
a superior education. Although they were frugal 
and industrious they could not hope to pay his ex- 
penses at college. The father thought of West Point, 
but as every member of the House of Representatives 
had the authority to appoint from among his con- 
stituents but one cadet to the United States Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point, and as a son of Dr. 
Bailey had already received the appointment from 
Thomas L. Hamer, Member of Congress from the 
Georgetown District there seemed but little hope in 
that direction. Fortunately for the Grants and the 
world, young Bailey failed to pass the required ex- 
amination, and Jesse Grant lost no time in making 
application for his son. He told his son of his action 
and the latter, afraid of failure, at once declared 
that he would not go ; his father remarked " I think 
you will ; " and he did. 

Jesse Grant had no thought of his son taking up 
a military career at this time. His only desire was 
that he should receive a good education at the least 
possible cost, and the training he would get at West 
Point would help him in any calling in life he might 
select. At this time he was a most unlikely lad to 
enter on a military life. He was a lightweight ; but 
little over five feet in height and not much over a 
hundred pounds in weight, in fact if he had been an 
inch shorter he would not have been admitted to 
West Point. He had, however, an excellent substi- 
tute for inches — will. So he went to West Point, 



184 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



faced an examination which he dreaded, found it 
easy and began his life in an institution which at 
that time had within its walls many men who were 
afterwards to win renown for their gallant services 
in either the army of the ISTorth or the South. 

On his road to West Point he managed to see 
something of the larger world, staying for a few days 
at both Philadelphia and !New York — not a very 
good preparation for his examination. However it 
seems not to have interfered much with his work, 
and he succeeded where his fellow-townsman Bailey 
had failed. Poor Bailey seems to have played the 
game of life in hard luck. He did not give up his 
aspirations to become a soldier and we find him in the 
Civil war with the rank of major, but he was killed 
in his first engagement in West Virginia. 

When young Grant began his life at West Point 
he seems to have had little enthusiasm for his work, 
excepting when on horseback. But that he had am- 
bition and hopes that his ambition would be real- 
ized is evident from his letters to his parents. The 
first to his mother, written immediately after en- 
tering West Point, shows what a deep influence her 
strong character had on him and likewise the reason 
why during his career he was guilty of no mean- 
ness, no base action, and had ever a lofty and serious 
ideal, 

" I was so often alone with you," he wrote, " and 
you so frequently spoke to me in private, that the 
solitude of the situation here at the Academy among 
my silent books, and in my lonely room is all the 
more striking. It reminds me the more forcibly of 
home, and most of all, dear mother, of you. But, 
in the midst of all this, your kindly instructions and 
admonitions are ever present with me. I trust they 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



185 



may never be absent from me as long as I live. How 
often do I think of them, and how well they 
strengthen me in every good word and work! My 
dear mother, should I progress with my studies at 
West Point and become a soldier of my country I 
am looking forward with hope to have you spared 
to share with me any advancement I may make.' 7 

His letter to his father written some time after 
this letter to his mother shows that despite his appar- 
ent indifference he had yearnings for future renown. 
In this letter he says : "I am rendered serious by 
the impressions which crowd upon me here at West 
Point. My thoughts are frequently occupied with 
a hatred I am made to feel towards traitors to my 
country as I look around me on the memorials that 
remain of the treason of Arnold. I am full of the 
conviction of scorn and contempt, which my young 
and inexperienced pen is unable to express in this 
letter, towards the conduct of any man who at any 
time could strike at the liberties of such a nation 
as ours. If ever a man should be found in our Union 
base enough to make the attempt to do this — if, like 
Arnold, they should secretly seek to sell our national 
inheritance for the mess of pottage of wealth, or 
power, or section — West Point sternly reminds them 
of what you, my father, would have your son do. As 
I stand here in this national fort, a student of arms 
under our country's flag, I know full well how you 
would have me act in such an emergency. I trust 
my future conduct in such an hour would prove 
worthy of the patriotic instructions you have given." 

However he was not a diligent student, and al- 
though he was unexcelled as a horseman, excepting 
in mathematics, for which he had considerable apti- 
tude, his academic career was far from a brilliant 



186 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



one. Of his course at West Point he says : " A 
military life had no charms for me and I had not the 
faintest idea of staying in the army, even if I should 

be graduated, which I did not expect 

Mathematics was very easy to me, so that, when 
January came, I passed the examination, taking a 
good standing in that branch. In French, the only 
other study at that time in the first year's course, 
my standing was very low. In fact, if the class had 
been turned the other end foremost I should have 
been near the head. I never succeeded in getting 
squarely at either end of my class in any one study 
during the four years. I came near it in French, 
artillery, infantry and cavalry tactics, and conduct." 
Of his career at West Point he further remarks: 
" I had not been i called out ' as a corporal, but when 
I returned from furlough I found myself the last 
but one — about my standing in all the tactics — of 
eighteen sergeants. The promotion was too much 
for me. That year my standing in the class — as 
shown by the number of demerits of the year — was 
about the same as it was among the sergeants, and I 
was dropped, and served the fourth year as a pri- 
vate." 

Cadet Grant possessed a good deal of originality 
and was a general favorite with his classmates and, 
despite his indolence, with his teachers. After he 
became famous there were those who remembered 
that it had been prophesied that, " Sam Grant " 
would yet gain renown and some of his enthusiastic 
admirers declared that it had been predicted that he 
would one day be a great General or even President 
of the United States. He had on one occasion at 
least a presentiment of his own future greatness. 
During his first year at West Point, General Scott 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



187 



reviewed the cadets. He made, by his magnificent 
physique and more magnificent uniform, a deep im- 
pression on Grant, who, in writing of the circum- 
stance in his Memoir s> says, " I believe I did have a 
presentiment for a moment that I should occupy his 
place on review." But what boot-black ever looked 
upon the President of the United States without 
having a presentiment that he would one day occupy 
his exalted position. He would be a poor boot-black 
indeed ! 

YThen Ulysses S. Grant graduated from West 
Point in 1843 he was anxious to enter the cavalry, 
but was compelled to be content with the Fourth 
United States Infantry in which corps he took rank 
as brevet second lieutenant. Then began his real 
battle with the w T orld. He had so far made many 
friends and few enemies ; some expected much of 
him ; others deemed him, with his lack of self-asser- 
tion, and indifference to the show and pomp of his 
profession a man who would never make his mark. 
JSTearly twenty years were to pass before his strong 
character was to have the opportunity needful to 
show what was in him. He was a man who required 
a great occasion ; had the great occasion never come 
U. S. Grant would doubtless have remained unknown 
to the nation, as he lacked the sharpness too often 
required to rise in the ordinary world of business. 
In the meantime while the occasion was preparing 
for the man, he was forced to endure much in the 
sturm und drang period of his life. 



188 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEK XII. 

president ulysses s. geant (Continued). 

After graduating from West Point young Grant 
made a brief sojourn with his friends in Ohio before 
setting out to join the Fourth Infantry, in which he 
was a brevet second lieutenant, at Jefferson Bar- 
racks, the chief military station in the West. At 
this time military life in the country was at a low 
ebb, the entire force being but 7,500 men. 

Jefferson Barracks situated near St. Louis was 
not a place to delight the heart of any ambitious 
young man, and Lieutenant Grant soon grew very 
weary of it. He applied to his old professor at West 
Point for a position as an assistant teacher in 
mathematics in that institution, and had it not been 
for the breaking out of the Mexican war he would 
in all probability have received the appointment, 
and, instead of leading the greatest armies that any 
modern general ever led into battle he might have 
grown to old age, teaching pupils the mysteries of 
Euclid. 

Por two years he remained at Jefferson Barracks 
in a monotonous round of military duties, and but 
for a friendship which he formed with the family 
of Colonel Dent these two years would have been 
unbearable. Por Colonel Dent's daughter, a girl of 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



189 



nineteen, he had more than friendly feelings, and 
they spent much time together riding about the sur- 
rounding country. After two years residence in the 
West he received leave of absence and paid a visit to 
his home; but scarcely had he reached it before a 
letter arrived instructing him to rejoin his regiment 
which had just been ordered to proceed to the Red 
River. He at once returned to Missouri to say fare- 
well to the Dents, and took the opportunity to tell 
Miss Dent of his love for her; and so he departed 
for his regiment with the understanding that, when 
his position would permit, Julia Dent would be pre- 
pared to join her life with his. 

The formal annexation of Texas had made war 
with Mexico a foregone conclusion, but as hostilities 
were delayed his regiment camped for nearly a year 
at Ecore on the Red River. In July, 1845, it was 
moved to New Orleans and two months later to Cor- 
pus Christi in Texas, then held by General Zachary 
Taylor's " army of occupation." The army that he 
now joined was as efficient a one as ever took the 
field. It was well-officered by men who had been 
trained in West Point, and in the ranks were many 
who had received their experience in the frontier 
wars. Many of the officers and men in this army 
were afterwards to achieve distinction in the Civil 
war. 

This force was in Texas for the purpose of invit- 
ing attack, and accordingly moved over to the Rio 
Grande opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras. 
Here it threw up entrenchments and as a result war 
began. The main army was at this time at Point 
Isabel for supplies. The sound of the firing at the 
entrenched position reached the soldiers' ears and 
General Taylor hastened back with his small force 



190 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of about 3,000 men. At Palo Alto the Mexicans 
made a strong resistance and an artillery duel lasted 
for some hours. In this battle Lieutenant Grant for 
the first time came under fire. On the following day 
he took part in the battle of Resaca de la Palma. 
When the news of these battles reached Washington 
the government declared war and the " army of oc- 
cupation " crossed the Rio Grande into Mexican 
territory, and by this act became the " army of in- 
vasion." 

Lieutenant Grant was appointed acting quarter- 
master and as such might have kept out of the fight- 
ing, but, from a sense of duty, he shirked none of 
it. lie was in the battle of Molino del Rey and con- 
spicuously distinguished himself at Chapultepec. 
After this fight Major Robert E. Lee in his official 
report said, " Lieutenant Grant behaved with dis- 
tinguished gallantry on the thirteenth and four- 
teenth." Eighteen years later, General Grant, com- 
mander of the forces of the United States, as he 
remembered these words, must have had sorrow 
mingled with his joy as he saw General Robert E. 
Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, sign his 
liberal terms of surrender at Appomattox Court 
House. On this same occasion his bravery came to 
the attention of General Garland who said officially: 
" I must not omit to call attention to Lieutenant 
Grant, Fourth Infantry, who acquitted himself most 
nobly on several occasions, under my own observa- 
tion. 1 " 

Perhaps the most courageous act done by Lieuten- 
ant Grant during the Mexican war was at the attack 
on Monterey. The force that he was with was run- 
ning short of ammunition. More ammunition could 
only be obtained from a mile in the rear. He volun- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



191 



teered to ride back and bring it up. It was a daring 
undertaking as he would be exposed for a part of the 
way to a heavy fire. He however depended on his 
ability as a rider to carry him safely through. The 
main danger lay at the street crossings, and in order 
to minimize this danger he adjusted himself on the 
side of his horse furthest from the enemy, after the 
manner of the Indian warriors, and galloped past 
the dangerous points at full speed. So successful 
was his plan that both horse and man escaped with- 
out a scratch. He was through every important 
battle in the Mexican war except that of Buena 
Vista, and on several occasions was mentioned for 
distinguished bravery and coolness of judgment. He 
was at the capital of Mexico when it fell, but all his 
experiences did not give him enthusiasm for a sol- 
dier's life. He learned much in these battles, how- 
ever, and as quartermaster realized that fighting was 
not everything, that a well managed commissariat 
was quite as important to a successful campaign as 
skilled leaders and brave soldiers. 

It is interesting to note in connection with this 
war that Lieutenant Grant while playing such an im- 
portant part in it was utterly out of sympathy with 
the war. He believed it to be an unrighteous one 
and looked upon it as one of the steps, and the most 
important one, leading up to the great Civil war. 
For the sin of this greed for territory on the part of 
his country he considered that the United States got 
her punishment " in the most sanguinary and expen- 
sive war of modern times." Towards the close of 
his life he said with regard to it : "I do not think 
there ever was a more wicked war waged than that 
by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at 
the time when I was a youngster, only I had not 



192 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



moral courage enough to resign." The two great 
generals of this war, Taylor, who was afterwards 
President of the United States, and Scott, who was 
ambitious to be President, both held very much the 
same opinion. 

After the war was over Captain Grant obtained 
leave to return to his home in Ohio. He made but 
a brief visit there and then hastened to the home of 
the Dents at St. Louis. Young Dent a brother of 
the betrothed had been with him through the Mex- 
ican war, and at Chapultepec Grant had saved his 
life. Before he had gone to Mexico there had been 
some little opposition to his union with Julia Dent 
but his prospects were now brighter and in the eyes 
of the family he was something of a hero. All op- 
position was removed and the young couple were 
married on August 22, 1848. 

His regiment was stationed on the Northern 
frontier and he took his wife with him to Detroit, 
where, in the spring of 1850, their first son was born. 
Two monotonous years were spent at this post until 
late in 1851 when his regiment was ordered to 
Sackett's Harbour, and in the following year to the 
Pacific Coast, thence to Fort Vancouver on the Co- 
lumbia River, Washington Territory, his family 
meanwhile remaining in the East. Barrack life 
was thoroughly distasteful to him; he felt that he 
was frittering away his existence, and, as he saw no 
prospect of war, sent in his resignation, which was 
to take effect on July 31, 1854. At this time he 
seems to have been utterly without hope for the 
future, and cynically said to a companion : " Who- 
ever hears of me in ten years, will hear of a well- 
to-do old Missouri farmer." In ten years the world 
was ringing with his praises and he was compared 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



193 



with the Napoleons and Hannibals of history. He 
left the army without regret and was only remem- 
bered among his fellow officers as probably the most 
expert and daring rider in the service. No one sus- 
pected that silent Ulysses S. Grant had in him the 
power of leading armed hosts. 

When he returned to Missouri he had no thought 
of a brilliant future; his only desire was to make a 
humble and comfortable home for his family. His 
father-in-law gave him sixty acres near St. Louis, and 
on this he began his career as a Missouri farmer. On 
it he built a log house, literally building it with his 
own hands, drawing stones for the cellar, cutting and 
hauling the logs, and splitting the shingles for the 
roof. He found it a difficult matter to make ends 
meet, and when finances ran low he would cut a load 
of wood and drive it into market, trudging beside 
it through slush or mud or dust to save his horse. 
He struggled along for four years in this way, but 
was attacked by fever and ague which forced him to 
give up farming. In a sense he had not been a suc- 
cess as a farmer, and it seemed unlikely that he would 
succeed in any business occupation. However, he 
entered into partnership with a relative, Harry 
Boggs, in the real estate business and undertook to 
collect rents, negotiate loans, etc. His family still 
lived at " Hard Scrabble," as he had christened his 
farm, and on each Saturday night he walked out to 
spend Sunday with them. At last he disposed of 
his farm stock and moved into a small house in St. 
Louis. But he was too honest for the real estate 
business and was once more a failure. In 1860 he 
moved to Galena, Illinois, to take up a position as 
clerk in a store of his father's. Here he began in a 
new business and spent his days loading and weigh- 
13 



194 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ing leather and keeping books. He was a silent, un- 
communicative man, and was known to but few peo- 
ple in the town, and he kept scrupulously apart from 
politics. He did not like the position of either party 
but was silently and seriously weighing the great 
questions of the hour. He needed a strong stimulus 
to arouse him and the gun fired on Fort Sumter 
which awoke the nation to its danger and duty stirred 
the heart of Ulysses S. Grant to its depths. 

That gun was to him a call to duty. He had been 
educated by the government and he felt he would be 
a traitor to his country if he now refused to take up 
arms on her behalf. This silent, unknown man who 
moved through the streets of Galena and went about 
his business with but few words now began to be 
looked upon as a possible leader at this crisis. 
Rumours of his deeds in the Mexican war were 
spread abroad, and when a meeting was called to 
consider what the town should do in response to 
President Lincoln's call for 75,000 men he was ap- 
pointed chairman. In this position he seemed a 
strangely shy creature to have been a hero. He had 
difficulty, as he says, in announcing the object of the 
meeting, and it was only after considerable prompt- 
ing that he succeeded. However, before the meet- 
ing closed he found his voice and there was some- 
thing of the Grant that faced Lee before Richmond 
shown when he said that he was in the fight to stay 
until the " wicked rebellion was crushed at the 
cannon's mouth." At this time he recognised that 
the call sent up was not sufficient, the rebellion could 
not be put down with such a small force in three 
months. He knew the Southerners well ; lie had 
fought with many of their leaders in Mexico, and he 
saw before the xTorth a long and fierce conflict. 



r 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



195 



As a trained soldier he naturally looked for a good 
appointment, and in the waiting time drilled a com- 
pany formed at Galena and went with them to 
Springfield. Here he found everything in confusion, 
the red tape and the office-seekers disgusted him and 
he would very probably have returned to his home 
had not Governor Yates recognised that he needed 
just such a man in the adjutant-general's office. 
Grant's experience as quartermaster during the Mex- 
ican war had in a way fitted him for this work and he 
very soon had matters straightened out. 

All this time he was hoping for a command and 
yet fearing his ability to take command of a regi- 
ment. Throughout his entire life there was a cer- 
tain diffidence about him that kept him from push- 
ing himself forward. He was made largely by the 
circumstances that faced him, and he rarely failed 
to rise to the occasion. Governor Yates recognised 
his power, and while Grant was on a visit at the 
home of his parents in Covington, Kentucky, sent 
him word that he had been appointed to the com- 
mand of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers. He 
accepted the situation and at once proceeded to join 
his command. 

It was a strange regiment, composed of a mixed 
crowd of gentlemen and toughs. They were utterly 
without discipline, and were, when he joined them, 
ragged and insubordinate, little more than an armed 
mob. They were not unlike the soldiers with whom 
Lincoln campaigned in the Black Hawk war. Gen- 
eral Smith gives the following account of Grant's 
first experience with them : 

" Grant was dressed in citizen's clothes — an old 
coat worn out at the elbows, and a badly damaged 
hat. His men, though ragged and barefooted them- 



196 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



selves, had formed a high estimate of what a colonel 
should be, and when Grant walked in among them, 
they began making fun of him. They cried in de- 
rision i what a colonel.' " 

However, they very soon found out what a colonel 
they had to deal with. He was a rigid discipli- 
narian and permitted no looting or drinking and 
promptly punished any breach of discipline. He 
was, however, kindly, and with regard to the young, 
put forth every effort to reclaim them. " Do every- 
thing," he said " to counteract the evil influences of 
camp life, but do not punish him (referring to a 
youthful offender) till you find it absolutely neces- 
sary, for that brings a sense of degradation." His 
attitude in the matter of discipline, and indeed in al- 
most every other matter connected with his military 
career, was very like that of his great contemporary 
British general Lord Roberts. The commander-in- 
chief of the British forces has, a number of times, in 
his Forty-One Years in India, expressed himself in 
very much the same terms with regard to young of- 
fenders, and has given instances to prove that for- 
giveness or light punishment has been most salutary 
in the army. 

The Twenty-First Illinois under his discipline 
and unceasing drill rapidly became an efficient corps, 
and his good work with it was recognised by the au- 
thorities. For a time he acted as brigadier-general 
and on August 7 was commissioned to that rank. His 
rapid promotion was largely due to the influence of 
Hon. Elihu B. Washburne who, ever since the meet- 
ing at Galena to raise volunteers, had had his eye on 
him. 

For a time the brigade over which he had com- 
mand operated in Missouri. He had already sent 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



197 



to Washington a plan of campaign for the Mississippi. 
This had come to the attention of Lincoln, but for 
the time being had been laid aside; but it was in 
the President's mind, and when Grant came to his 
attention he had no hesitation in assigning to him 
the command of the district of Southeast Missouri. 
He was to operate against Colonel Jeff Thompson and 
his headquarters were to be at Cairo. Shortly after 
taking over his command he learned that the rebels 
had gone out from Columbus with 4,000 troops to 
occupy Paducah. He at once acted on his own re- 
sponsibility and with a small force advanced to that 
place, took possession of it, and the rebel force turned 
back to Columbus. For several months he remained 
inactive, drilling his ever increasing army, which at 
the beginning of November amounted to about 
20,000 men. He was at this time anxious to march 
against Columbus, and believed that if he had pro- 
ceeded against it early in the autumn it would have 
fallen without much resistance. 

His first engagement, however, was to be at Bel- 
mont. Belmont was a fortified position almost under 
the guns of Columbus. Grant determined to surprise 
this position and if possible destroy the fort and 
capture the rebel encampment. He proceeded 
against it with but 3,000 men and succeeded admira- 
bly in his work. The rebels were taken completely 
by surprise and Belmont was in the hands of the 
Union troops before the force in Columbus realised 
what they were attempting. When they did realise 
it, they came out in strength with the intention of 
cutting the small army to pieces. However, Grant 
succeeded in forcing his way through the line that 
was tightening about him and getting his men safely 
on board the awaiting transports. He had during 



198 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



this day been in the thick of the fight, one horse was 
shot under him and on several occasions his life was 
in jeopardy. He barely escaped capture and only 
succeeded in boarding the transport as tha gangway 
was about to be drawn in. The battle of Belmont 
had been a stiff fight, nearly 500 of the Union soldiers 
fell, killed or wounded, but the enemy's loss was 
much greater. Although this fight was a minor one 
it was of great importance. It came at a time when 
the Union Army had lost prestige, and it showed 
that the Union soldiers could fight. It cowed the 
army in Columbus and paved the way for the 
victories of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. 

For nearly three months Grant was forced to re- 
main inactive at Cairo, while the Confederate army 
strengthened itself along the Mississippi, the Tennes- 
see and the Cumberland. At length the time came 
when it was deemed wise to move against Fort Henry 
and Fort Donelson. At the end of January, Grant 
was confident that he could seize these forts and sent 
a telegram saying that if he were permitted he could 
take and hold Fort Henry. On Febuary 1, per- 
mission was granted. He lost no time and on the 
following day started against it with 17,000 men. 
It was no easy matter to transport these, and it was 
not until the 6th that he was prepared to attack the 
enemy's position. The garrison was by no means a 
weak one, there were about 2,800 men within the fort 
with seventeen heavy guns and with strong reinforce- 
ments between it and Donelson. There was, how- 
ever, but little attempt made at resistance. The 
guns of the fort opened fire on the attacking force, 
but only for the purpose of giving the troops an 
opportunity of escaping to Fort Donelson. The 
commander and his staff and ninety men were 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



199 



captured, but as the roads were in a very bad condi- 
tion only a few stragglers from the main force were 
cut of! by Grant's cavalry. 

Fort Donelson had still to be taken, and Grant, 
flushed with success, was confident that he could cap- 
ture it at once. He informed the department com- 
mander that he would take Fort Donelson on the 8th ; 
but as reinforcements which he expected were slow 
in coming up and as the roads were almost impassable 
his attack had to be delayed. On the 7th of the 
month he proceeded to within a mile of the enemy's 
outworks and carefully studied the ground. 

For the chief commanders in Donelson he had 
but little regard. Floyd, who was in command, had, 
as Secretary of War for Buchanan, done perhaps more 
than any other Southerner to Cripple the strength of 
the Union, and for him Grant had no respect. He 
believed him to be utterly incompetent. His second 
in command, General Pillow, with whom he had 
fought in the Mexican war, he held in even less es- 
teem. With these men in command he believed it 
would be possible to capture the stronghold without 
waiting for reinforcements. 

From the 12th of the month to the 14th his 
15,000 men besieged an army of 21,000. There 
was a little skirmishing each day and on the 
13th a determined attempt was made to capture the 
battery, but this was repulsed with great loss. His 
men were suffering much, the nights were intensely 
cold and on the morning of the 14th a number of 
them were found frozen to death where they slept. 
He felt that it would be necessary to come to con- 
clusions with the enemy at once, and on this day, as 
reinforcements were pouring in, kept up a continual 
rifle fire against the besieged. His gunboats were 



200 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



brought into action and opened fire upon the fort. 
But they were forced back and Grant feared a pro- 
tracted siege. But he had every confidence of being 
able to win in the end. As the attacks were repulsed, 
as the gunboats drew off, for the most part disabled, 
the Confederates believed that they had won a de- 
cisive victory and sent a telegram to that effect to 
Richmond; but as Floyd and Pillow saw the army 
about them ever increasing a fear seized them that 
they might be captured, and Floyd particularly had 
no desire to fall into the hands of the Union soldiers. 
They determined on the following day to go out in 
force and cut their way through the encircling army. 

Before daylight on the 15th General Grant had 
gone to the flagship, " St. Louis " to consult with Com- 
modore Foote. In his absence, and before the soldiers 
of his army were prepared for battle, the rebel force 
streamed out of Donelson. Fierce fighting took 
place and when Grant returned to the field of action at 
about nine in the morning he found his troops in a 
confused condition. He at once took in the situation, 
rallied his men and prepared to capture or drive back 
the attacking force. He learned that they had come 
out with knapsacks and haversacks; his soldiers 
thought that this meant that they were prepared for 
a protracted fight. He thought otherwise. He in- 
tuitively grasped the meaning of this circumstance 
and asked, " Are their haversacks filled ? " Being- 
answered in the affirmative, he added, " Then they 
mean to cut their way out; they have no idea of 
staying here to fight us." Prompt action was what 
was needed and to his demoralised troops he cried 
out as he galloped about the field, " Fill your cart- 
ridge boxes, quick, and get into line; the enemy is 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



201 



trying to escape and he must not be permitted to do 
so." 

The battle under his inspiring presence was 
renewed with vigour and at nightfall the Union 
troops were within the enemy's lines of entrench- 
ment. Had daylight lasted an hour longer the fort 
would have been won. During the night Generals 
Floyd and Pillow escaped, leaving General Buckner 
to surrender. On the morrow a white flag was raised 
over the fort, and General Grant was asked what 
terms he would give. The prompt and char- 
acteristic reply was returned, " no terms other than 
unconditional and immediate surrender can be ac- 
cepted. I propose to move immediately upon your 
works." 

Buckner was forced to accept this unconditional 
surrender, but he and his officers and men were kindly 
treated by the victorious soldier. It was a splendid 
victory; 65 guns, 17,000 small arms, 3,000 horses 
and nearly 15,000 prisoners were captured. Although 
Grant had under him some very excellent officers 
the victory was almost entirely due to his own pres- 
ence of mind, his quickness of perception, his cour- 
age, and his judgment of the character of Floyd and 
Pillow. He however realised that without the troops 
that he had disciplined and drilled he could never 
have won, and when the battle w 7 as over he was able 
to say to them that " Fort Donelson will hereafter 
be marked in capitals on the map of our country 
and the men who fought the battle will live in the 
memory of a grateful people." 

The spirit of the !Nbrth had been drooping, but this 
signal victory electrified it, and Grant was the hero 
of the hour. For his work on this day he was made 
a major-general and President Lincoln and his Secre- 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY, 



tary of War recognised that there was a man on the 
Mississippi who knew how to win victories. Of his 
work Mr. Stanton wrote : " We may well rejoice at 
the recent victories, for they teach us that battles are 
to be won now and by us, in the same and only manner 
that they were ever won by any people or in any age 
since the days of Joshua — by boldly pursuing and 
striking the foe. What under the blessing of Provi- 
dence I conceive to be the true organisation of victory 
and military combination to end this war was declared 
in a few words by General Grant's message to Gen- 
eral Buckner, ' I propose to move immediately on 
your works.' " 

It was not, however, to be all roses for General 
Grant. Immediately after the fall of Donelson 
General Johnston of the Confederate army abandoned 
^Nashville and Chattanooga, and Grant was for a few 
days absent from his command visiting the abandoned 
district. During this time certain irregularities oc- 
curred in his command and these were brought to the 
notice of the authorities. It seems, too, that some 
of his correspondence with General Halleck went 
astray ; as a result differences arose between the gen- 
erals which resulted in Grant's being practically 
placed under arrest even while the nation was ringing 
with praises of his victory. Halleck seems to have 
been jealous of Grant and acted towards him in a 
most hypocritical manner. It was he who reported 
Grant's alleged misconduct to Washington and while 
doing it he thus wrote to Grant, who had asked to be 
relieved from further service under him : " Instead 
of relieving you, I wish you, as soon as your new army 
is in the field, to assume immediate command and 
lead it to new victories." 

Although the Confederates had been driven from 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Forts Henry and Donelson they had high hopes of 
retrieving their misfortunes along the Mississippi. 
General Albert Sidney Johnston and General Beau- 
regard were in command of the troops at Corinth. 
They had under them, all told, between fifty and 
eighty thousand men and they hoped to crush 
Grant and to sweep the Union army out of existence 
before it could be reinforced by General Buell. 
Grant's main army was at Pittsburg Landing during 
the first week of April, and the Southern generals 
were carefully watching its movements for the right 
moment to swoop out of their strongholds and crush 
it. A big battle was imminent, and, not only the 
opposing armies but the whole country, was expect- 
ing one of the great fights of the war. General 
Grant had his headquarters at Savannah, and from 
that point kept himself in touch with the different 
divisions of the army. 

On the night of April 4, as he was galloping 
through the darkness, his horse fell, and before 
he could extricate himself from the saddle his 
foot was badly crushed, so much so that it was 
necessary to cut off his boot. Had he received more 
serious injuries at this time the history of the 
war would in all probability have been changed and 
the South might have triumphed. Two days later 
on Sunday morning while at breakfast, and still 
suffering from his injured foot he heard heavy firing 
from the direction of Pittsburg Landing. A battle 
was on, and his presence was needed in the conflict. 
The situation was a grave one and every available 
man must be hurried to the front. He sent a swift- 
messenger to General Buell, requesting him to hurrv 
his men forward with all possible speed; he 
despatched a hurried order to General Nelson to the 



204: PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



same effect, and then galloped in the direction of the 
battle, stopping for a brief moment at Crump's Land- 
ing to order General Wallace to follow after him 
with his division; this done he proceeded at once to 
the field of battle. 

The fight had now been under way for several 
hours, and the situation that faced the General was 
far from being a cheering one. The Confederates 
were the attacking force, and as he approached the 
field the number of deserters and stragglers he met 
even at that early hour greatly disheartened him. 
His men were, however, making a gallant stand 
against the superior force, and, although on different 
parts of the field they were giving ground, they were 
fighting stubbornly to repel the enemy. His in- 
spiring presence did much to save the day ; from 
division to division of his army he rode cheering both 
commanders and men and praying that Bueli and 
Wallace and Nelson might soon arrive with reinforce- 
ments. Without them he felt that it would be almost 
impossible to keep his soldiers from retreating until 
nightfall. 

He had under him an army composed for the 
most part of raw recruits. Shiloh was their first 
battle ; they had not previously been " shot over," 
and as the day went on they deserted by hundreds. 
However, there were veterans enough in his army to 
hold it together, and when reinforcements did come 
towards night, although they met what seemed to 
them to be an army in retreat, they likewise saw that 
the van of the Union army was maintaining a 
desperate struggle. When General Buell arrived on 
the scene he believed that a retreat would be neces- 
sary, but General Grant, with his usual bull-dog 
tenacity, determined to stick to the enemy, and to 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



205 



become the attacking force on the morrow. He 
believed that he could regain every foot of ground 
he had lost in the Sunday fight, and hoped to win a 
decisive victory. 

All day long suffering from the pain of his injury, 
and weighed down by the seriousness of the situ- 
ation he had ridden about the field with hard 
set face. When night came he was to have but 
little rest. It was a rainy night and about twelve 
o'clock he tried to get a little sleep while sitting 
propped against a tree in the rain, but the pain 
of his foot prevented it, and he rose and went to 
a log house near by which was being used as a 
hospital. The sights of death during the day had had 
but little effect on his iron nerves, but now the 
surgeons at their ghastly work, the cries and groans 
of the wounded, drove him forth again into the night 
and he went back to his tree but was unable to sleep. 
At daybreak on the following morning he issued 
orders to his divisional commanders to begin the fight 
at once and a fierce attack was made on the Con- 
federate lines. The situation was now reversed and 
the ground that was lost on the previous day was 
slowly but effectively won and by nightfall the Con- 
federates were forced to retreat within their entrench- 
ments at Corinth. General Beauregard, however, 
telegraphed to Richmond that on this day he had 
won a glorious victory. 

The fight had been an expensive one to both 
armies ; the Union loss in killed, wounded and miss- 
ing was over twelve thousand, while the Confederate 
loss was even greater, although Beauregard reported 
a loss of only some ten thousand. Shiloh was one of 
the most stubborn battles of the century ; there was on 
the part of the leaders of both armies an utter disre- 



206 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



gard for the lives of their men : to win was the great 
thing, and the individual was considered a minor 
factor. General Grant's description of a part of the 
field on the second day gives an excellent idea of the 
terrible slaughter that took place. 

" I saw," he says, " an open field, in our possession 
on the second day, over which the Confederates had 
made repeated charges the day before, so covered 
with dead that it would have been possible to walk 
across the clearing, in any direction, stepping on dead 
bodies, without a foot touching the ground. On our 
side, National and Confederate troops were mingled 
together in about equal proportions; but on the re- 
mainder of the field nearly all were Confederates. 
On one part, which had evidently not been ploughed 
for several years, probably because the land was 
poor, bushes had grown up, some to the height of 
eight or ten feet. There was not one of these left 
standing unpierced by bullets. The smaller ones 
were all cut down." 

He and several of his generals had had narrow 
escapes in this battle; a bullet broke his scabbard, 
and Sherman, his ablest general, was twice slightly 
wounded and had two horses shot under him. That 
Shiloh was won was more largely due to the personal 
valour and judgment of these two men than to any- 
thing else ; had either fallen the day might have had 
a different ending. 

The two days fighting had thoroughly worn out the 
men. This, combined with the fact that the heavy 
rains had left the roads in an almost impassable condi- 
tion, made it impossible to vigorously pursue the 
enemy, as a result this victory was not as effective 
as it otherwise might have been. 

Shiloh was in a sense the turning point in Grant's 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



207 



career as a general. He saw now that this war would 
not be ended until the armies of the South were 
crushed. There was little to be gained by capturing 
towns and forts, or cutting off small detachments of 
men. Big battles, crushing defeats were what would 
save his country. After this his policy was to leave 
nothing undone to destroy the enemy's strength. 
War is at any time cruel, and a great general may 
seem to be unnecessarily cruel when he is in reality 
being most humane. The worst possible thing for 
his country would be a protracted struggle ; his aim 
now was to finish the war as speedily as possible. In 
order to weaken the enemy he gave orders to his com- 
manders to destroy everything in the country through 
which they marched that would supply or support the 
enemy. His policy was very much the same as 
that which was adopted by the British in South 
Africa against the stubborn Boer, and though for 
the time being it might seem to many to be wantonly 
cruel it was in the end the kindest policy that could 
be adopted. 

On April 11, four days after the battle of Shiloh, 
General Halleck assumed command of the Army of 
the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio. He 
seemed still to have had an unreasonable jealousy of 
Grant, and his treatment of him at this time is in- 
comprehensible. The newspapers, too, treated the 
victor of Shiloh atrociously, but General Grant went 
on his way unmoved. £To man ever acted more un- 
selfishly than did he during his entire career as a 
general, and he was able to bear the slanders and 
calumnies against him, with pain no doubt, but with 
a consciousness that in the end all would be right. 

He believed if an immediate attack were made on 
Corinth while the Confederate troops were still 



208 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



suffering from their reverses at Shiloh, that it would 
almost inevitably fall into the hands of Halleck's 
army. But for this advice he was unceremoniously 
snubbed by his commanding officer. It turned out, 
however, that had his advice been taken Corinth 
would have fallen and the Confederate army de- 
stroyed or captured. It was not until May 30, that 
Halleck felt in a position to come to conclusions with 
the force in Corinth. On that day he drew up his 
army and informed the divisional leaders that an 
attack might be expected, but it was soon discovered 
that the enemy had taken advantage of Halleck's in- 
activity and quietly evacuated Corinth, — and so 
several months of precious time had been wasted. 

Halleck continued so openly to show his disregard 
for Grant that the latter finding his position unbear- 
able requested leave of absence to visit his family in 
St. Louis. It was granted and he would have taken 
it but for his friend Sherman. Sherman begged him 
to remain, to keep in the struggle with the armies 
that he had done so much to make, — and he yielded. 
He was sent to Memphis and in this place proved 
himself quite as good an administrator as he was a 
leader of men in the field. This city was a hot-bed of 
rebellion ; the people and the press were both out- 
spoken against the North, and supplies were being 
continually . smuggled out of it into the Confederate 
lines. He soon stopped the smuggling of supplies 
to the Southern army, and in a very brief time had 
Memphis as orderly a city as any in the North. He 
remained here until July, when Halleck was made, 
through the exigencies of the time, commander-in- 
chief of the armies of the United States. As a result 
of this change Grant was compelled to shift his head- 
quarters from Memphis to Corinth. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



209 



Grant remained in Corinth until the autumn. It 
was a difficult district to rule, but, despite his greatly 
weakened force, he ruled it well. Meanwhile things 
had been going badly with the North. Union reverse 
after Union reverse had been reported, and it looked 
as if the Secessionists might yet be successful. While 
affairs were in this condition General Grant learned 
that General Van Dorn and General Price were 
moving against him with a large army. He sent 
Rosecrans out to meet the enemy, but Rosecrans was 
beaten back at Iuka with heavy loss, and the Con- 
federates continued their advance on his head- 
quarters. On October 2, the Union troops about 
Corinth were driven back into the strong entrench- 
ments which Grant had had constructed. The Con- 
federates grew over-confident and believed that they 
could crush the general who had inflicted such heavy 
losses upon them during the year, and, on October 3, 
threw themselves on his position with great valour, 
but they were beaten back and fled from the field in 
confusion, hotly pursued. It was a great victory, 
coming at a time when a victory was much needed, 
and the authorities at Washington and the nation 
at large grew enthusiastic over the Army of the 
Mississippi. They had feared that Grant with his 
comparatively small force would not be able to with- 
stand the large army that was operating against him, 
but it was evident he was well able to take care of 
himself. By this victory at Corinth all fear for his 
army was removed. 

Grant had now under him about 50,000 troops. 
He was placed in command of the department of the 
Tennessee and at once began to look about him for 
some decisive work. Vicksburg, the " Western 
Gibraltar," which was commanded by General John 
14 



210 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



C. Pemberton, was deemed an impregnable fortress. 
It would be a great feat of arms to capture it, and at 
the end of October General Grant had determined on 
attempting this task and began busily to plan a 
campaign. On November 2, he began his forward 
movement on Vicksburg, but it was not until the 
end of January when he took command of the army 
operating before Vicksburg in person that any real 
progress was made. The heaviest task of his career 
was before him and the nation looked on wondering 
and expecting. 

At first he was almost discouraged, and it 
seemed as though he would have to turn back un- 
successful ; but the Union stock was low, reverses 
had continued, President Lincoln had been forced to 
make a further call for volunteers, and to this call 
there had been but little response. It was found 
necessary to draft men into the service ; to turn back 
under such circumstances, to leave the " key of the 
Mississippi " in the hands of the South would only 
injure the cause of the Union still more. Grant's 
ability to stick to work once begun was probably the 
most striking trait in his character, and he was once 
more to exercise it. It was necessary to get to the 
rear of Vicksburg, and he planned and planned ways 
of doing this. 

To get his army across the river was the difficult 
point, and it was not until April that he succeeded. 
The excellent work done by Admiral David D. 
Porter with his gunboats in running the gauntlet 
of the batteries about Vicksburg was the chief 
factor in bringing him success. But before he 
could tighten his lines around the doomed city, it 
was necessary to fight many and hard battles. On 
April 30, he succeeded in effecting a landing with 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



211 



20,000 men and during the next month his troops 
were to pass through the battles of Port Gibson, Ray- 
mond, J ackson, Champion's Hill, the Big Black, and 
Fourteen Mile Creek. In May he was greatly 
strengthened by the arrival of his trusty fellow- 
soldier General Sherman. Sherman was opposed to 
Grant's plan and with a soldier's and friend's frank- 
ness told him so, and went farther and said that 
he must make a statement to be forwarded to Wash- 
ington. Grant took his statement and quietly put it 
in his coat pocket believing that he was right and that 
Sherman would in time be convinced that his plan 
was the one to reduce Vicksburg. Lincoln, too, was 
opposed to Grant's plan, but when the fortress fell he 
had the generosity to write to Grant saying, " you 
were right, and I was wrong." The siege of Vicks- 
burg was peculiarly Grant's work from beginning 
to end, it was his master military brain that planned 
the entire campaign. Of course he was admirably 
helped in his work by his generals and particularly 
by Sherman, but the glory of it all was his. 

It was evident to the army and the country that 
Grant was getting a firm hold on Vicksburg. On 
May 19, he had the city completely invested and 
hoped in a day or two to force Pemberton to sur- 
render. However, the fall of Vicksburg was not as 
near at hand as he anticipated. On the 20th and 
the 22nd assaults were made upon the Rebel lines, but 
on each occasion the Union forces were beaten back 
with loss. These attacks were mistakes and Grant 
was one of the first to recognise this. There was 
nothing for it now but a regular siege, and so for 
forty-six days his men remained about the walls of the 
city watching for an opportunity of taking the Con- 



212 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



federates of! their guard, and slowly but surely sap- 
ping their way up to their position. 

Towards the end of June Pemberton, who had 
daily been expecting reinforcements from General 
Johnston, grew hopeless. He saw that he could not 
hold out much longer as his supplies had been cut 
off and his troops were in a state of starvation. On 
the 3rd of July he raised the white flag and sent 
out a request to General Grant for terms. Grant 
would not agree to an armistice, but arranged a 
meeting with Pemberton to consider unconditional 
surrender. He was prepared to act generously 
towards his conquered foe, and at this meeting 
met Pemberton rather as an old friend than an en- 
emy, — they had, indeed, fought side by side in the 
Mexican war. The prisoners were paroled and al- 
lowed to go to their homes. The victory was the most 
important yet won in the war. By it the Mississippi 
was once more opened up, 31,600 prisoners, 172 can- 
non, and 60,000 muskets were captured. As this 
great victory occurred simultaneously with Gettys- 
burg the North very naturally was exceedingly 
jubilant and began to feel as if the war might soon 
end ; but that was still far distant. 

After the fall of Vicksburg Grant was anxious to 
move against Mobile at once, but in this he was as 
usual thwarted by Halleck. In August he went to 
]\ T ew Orleans, and while in that city attending a re- 
view he was again injured by the fall of his horse ; so 
badly on this occasion that he was forced to keep to 
his bed for about a month. This was an anxious time 
for him as stories of Union reverses came to his ears. 
In September, Chickamauga was fought and Rose- 
crans was forced back into Chattanooga. The War 
Department was in despair, and it looked to Grant 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



213 



for help. A dispatch was sent to him ordering him 
to proceed to Cairo and report at once. He was still 
suffering from his injury when this dispatch reached 
him, but he made haste to obey it and arrived at 
Cairo on October IT, when he found another dis- 
patch awaiting him ordering him to prepare for im- 
mediate operations in the field. 

The 24th of the month found him at Chattanooga. 
Here he discovered that the army of the Cumberland 
was practically besieged and on the verge of starva- 
tion. His first thought was to place the army on a 
better basis, to supply it properly, and to see that 
the lines of communication were kept open. This 
work done he turned his attention to planning the 
battle that must perforce of circumstances take place 
in a few days. The Confederates were strongly en- 
trenched on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Eidge. 
They deemed- their position impregnable, and every 
one in the South from Jefferson Davis to the 
humblest private in General Bragg's army believed 
that they could defeat any Union force that could 
be sent against them. But Grant planned a brilliant 
battle, and with such men as Sherman and Sheridan 
to help carry out his plans Chattanooga after one of 
the most impressive and stubborn fights in the his- 
tory of the war ended in a Union victory. But it 
took days of skilful manoeuvring before the final 
1)1 ow that won the day was struck. By this victory 
the strength of the rebellion in the centre was broken. 
Kentucky and Tennessee were rescued from the 
rebels, and Georgia and the Southeast were threat- 
ened in the rear. The general-in-chief in referring 
to this victory very truly said that it must be consid- 
ered one of the most remarkable in history. Grant 
himself took great pride in it, and though a man of 



214 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

few words could not but express himself warmly in 
his congratulations to his men who had helped him 
win at Chattanooga. 

" The general commanding takes this opportunity," 
he said, " of returning his sincere thanks and con- 
gratulations to the brave Armies of the Cumberland, 
the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from 
the Potomac for the recent splendid and decisive suc- 
cesses achieved over the enemy. In a short time you 
have recovered from him the control of the Tennes- 
see River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dis- 
lodged him from his great stronghold on Lookout 
Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga Valley, 
wrested from his determined grasp the possession of 
Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to him his 
repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to 
raise the siege there, driving him at all points, utterly 
routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the State. 
By your noble heroism and determined courage you 
have most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy 
for regaining possession of the States of Kentucky 
and Tennessee. You have secured positions from 
which no rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. 
For all this the general commanding thanks you 
collectively and individually. The loyal people of 
the United States thank and bless you. Their hopes 
and prayers for your success against this unholy re- 
bellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will 
not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. 
Their prayers to Almighty God will be answered. 
You will yet go to other fields of strife, and, with 
the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to 
justice and right which have characterised you in 
the past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



215 



you, and that no defences, however formidable, can 
check your onward march." 

It will be seen from this that Grant attributed the 
victory to his gallant soldiers; the nation, on the 
other hand, attributed it to Grant. Honours were 
heaped upon him ; a gold medal was struck and pre- 
sented to him " in the name of the people of the 
United States of America," and very soon other re- 
wards were to be his. 

After Chattanooga there was a lull in the war, and 
in January Grant asked leave to visit his family in 
St. Louis. His son Fred, although but thirteen years 
old at the time, had been with him throughout the en- 
tire operations about Vicksburg and had been an eye- 
witness of the great battles leading up to the capture 
of that strong fortress. His experiences, however 
had not been all for the best, and after the fall of 
Vicksburg he was forced to return to his home a very 
sick boy. At this time his life was despaired of, but 
fortunately he recovered. 

On March 3, General Grant was called to Wash- 
ington. It was now seen that he was the man Lin- 
coln had been looking for, the man capable of bring- 
ing the war to a successful termination. It was de- 
cided to revive the rank of lieutenant-general in the 
army, and to appoint him to this rank. This was 
done, and on March 9, he was appointed to the com- 
mand of all the Union armies, and on the following 
day President Lincoln wrote him the following note : 
" Under the authority of the Act of Congress to re- 
vive the grade of lieutenant-general in the United 
States Army, approved February 29, 1864, Lieuten- 
ant-General Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. Army is as- 
signed to the command of the armies of the United 
States." 



216 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



When Grant accepted the commission he did it 
with a few brief and characteristic words in the 
course of which he said, " I feel the full weight 
of the responsibilities now devolving upon me, and 
I know if they are met it will be due to those armies, 
and, above all, to the favour of the Providence which 
leads both nations and men." In another man this 
would have seemed like cant but General Grant was 
from the beginning to the end of his career, genuinely 
sincere. He said but little and never approximated 
at untruth. All through his life he in a way believed 
himself under the guidance of Providence, and even 
when the news of Lincoln's assassination came to 
him he did not rebel ; but it was hard to see the hand 
of Providence in that act. 

On the 26th of March, General Grant took up his 
headquarters at Culpeper Court House a few miles 
south of the headquarters of the army of the Poto- 
mac. He was now for the first time brought into 
somewhat close contact with Lincoln, and he soon 
grew to be one of his most ardent admirers, although 
he was not prepared to trust the kind-hearted Presi- 
dent with the plans he intended to pursue. 

Grant had already done fine work for the Union ; 
he had by his skill and dogged determination and 
with the help of Farragut opened the Mississippi 
from St. Louis to the sea, but he had before 
him a tremendously greater task than this. For 
three years the war in the East had made but 
little progress; great battles had been fought, tens 
of thousands of men had been slain, vast tracts of 
country had been laid waste, but the armies of the 
North and the South were in very much the same 
iposition as in the summer of 1861. They were still 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



217 



resting between Richmond and Washington watching 
each other's movements. 

This war had to be finished, and at once ; that was 
Grant's first thought. In order to do this " concen- 
tration was the order of the day." He would bring 
all his forces to bear on the armies of the South, and 
by generalship if possible, if not, by mere weight of 
numbers, crush Generals Lee and Johnson. 

So far during the war the cavalry had been ineffect- 
ive, and he realised what an important factor this 
arm of the service might be in winding up the war. 
The first thing to do was to have it properly led, 
and so he appointed General Phil Sheridan to the 
command of the cavalry. By the first week in May 
he was ready for a general movement all along the 
line. This was a new thing in the war and for the 
first time Robert E. Lee began to tremble for the 
safety of Richmond. Grant's reputation had reached 
him. He remembered the brave young soldier of 
the Mexican war, and he felt that now the struggle 
of the campaign had come. He had under him in all 
a force of probably 75,000 men. When on May 4, 
Grant began to move his army across the Rapidan, 
the Union force numbered not fewer than 115,000 
men. Grant's army was, it will be seen, vastly 
larger than Lee's, but Lee had the advantage of posi- 
tion and that counted for much. 

As Grant began his forward movement he received 
a characteristic note from President Lincoln. Lin- 
coln was now trusting him absolutely. He would 
hinder him in no way and as he was sending forth 
his war-lord to battle for his government he could 
not refrain from saying a kindly and helpful word. 
How the man comes out in the sentence, " if there is 
anything wanting which is within my power to give^ 



218 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

do not fail to let me know. And now with a brave 
army and a just cause may God sustain you." 

The Union forces very soon came in contact with 
Lee's army, and after some slight skirmishing the 
fierce and bloody battles of the Wilderness began. 
For three days they raged with terrible loss on both 
sides. The Union army lost 14,000 men in killed, 
wounded and missing; but they won, and Lee was 
forced to fall back to a strong position at Spottsyl- 
vania. Grant had gained the unbounded admiration 
of the army that operated with him on the Mississippi 
and this fight in the Wilderness won for him the 
worship of the army of the Potomac. His presence 
on any part of the field created intense enthusiasm 
and he was received by his soldiers with that same 
display of feeling that everywhere was bestowed on 
Napoleon by his followers. 

The war was now at a very different stage from 
what it had been in the initial fights; then raw re- 
cruits filled the ranks and the struggles for a great 
part were struggles between armed mobs. Now the 
two great armies were composed for the most 
part of veterans to whom war was a familiar 
thing and sights of suffering and death every- 
day occurrences. The fighting was therefore des- 
perate, and the battles in tne Wilderness were 
but the beginning of the bloodiest campaign in 
modern history. For some days skirmishing went on, 
the contending forces playing, like boxers, for an 
opening. This skirmishing continued for several 
days and culminated in the great battle of Spottsyl- 
vania on the 12th of May when 4,000 prisoners and 
30 cannon were captured by the Union troops. Still 
the fighting did not cease, and by the 21st of the 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



219 



month another 14,000 men were lost to the Union 
army. 

During this part of the campaign Grant was ad- 
mirably supported by his generals. Meade and 
Sheridan and the rest were to him what Napoleon's 
marshals were to Napoleon, excepting that in the 
latter case an element of selfishness was mingled 
with their support. This severe fighting created a 
good deal of alarm, for though victories were gained 
the losses were terrific, but amidst it all Grant was 
calm ; he had now a grip on Lee and he would not let 
go until he had either annihilated his force or com- 
pelled him to surrender. 

During the severe fighting of the Richmond 
campaign, and while he was sustaining his heav- 
iest losses Grant sent a dispatch to Washington 
saying, " I propose to fight it out on this line 
if it takes all summer." The Shenandoah valley was 
a great source of supply for the Confederates and 
nothing shows the character of Grant better than 
his determination with regard to that district. He 
would destroy all crops in it ; he gave orders to have 
it laid waste " so that crows flying over it for the 
balance of this season will have to carry their pro- 
vender with them." It is such heroic determination 
as this that places Grant in the same category with 
Napoleon and Wellington, with Csesar and Hanni- 
bal. 

On the 3rd of June Grant ordered an assault to be 
made on Lee's entrenched position at Cold Harbour. 
The attacking force was repulsed with great loss and 
after this Grant lost some of his fondness for frontal 
attacks. He expressed regret for this assault at 
Cold Harbour just as he expressed regret for the 
assaults at Vicksburg in the previous year, but these 



220 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

were the only serious blunders of his military career. 
During the month his troops had been reinforced by 
40,000 men, but he was no stronger than at the 
beginning, for an equal number had fallen in battle 
or had been made prisoners. Lee, too, had had large 
reinforcements, principally old men and boys, but 
his losses were so great that he was somewhat weaker 
than at the beginning of this campaign. 

Grant next turned his attention to Petersburg and 
Richmond. He saw that it was necessary to win 
Petersburg, and with the fall of that place he knew 
that Richmond would be evacuated. The outer line 
of the entrenchments before Petersburg were taken, 
but Grant found himself held in check by Lee's army, 
and so he settled down to a regular siege of the place. 

Meanwhile Washington was in danger. Early 
threatened the city and but for Grant's foresight 
would have entered it. The force he sent to protect 
Washington arrived barely in time to avert disaster 
from the Capital. Brisk fighting went on during the 
summer, but it was not until late in the year that the 
Union had decided successes. On September 2, 
Atlanta was entered by Sherman ; on September 19, 
Early was routed by Sheridan in battle at Win- 
chester, and on October 19, Sheridan's famous ride 
changed the defeat of Cedar Creek into a celebrated 
victory. 

Meanwhile the struggle went on about Petersburg. 
On June 17, Beauregard had fallen back to the 
second line of entrenchments, and on the 30th of 
July a breach was made in the defences and the 
Union troops might then have entered the place, but 
the golden opportunity was lost. Months were now 
to pass before anything decisive was done. 

In November, Lincoln was re-elected, and in De- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



221 



cember Savannah fell into the hands of Sherman, but 
it was not until March that Grant felt that both 
Petersburg and Kichmond would soon be his. In 
that month the siege was vigorously prosecuted and 
on the 2nd of April an attack was made on Peters- 
burg that showed Lee how impossible it would be to 
hold out longer. If he would save his army he must 
evacuate both places at once. During that night the 
troops stole out of Richmond and Petersburg, and 
as Grant on the morning of the Third entered the 
latter place he saw the roads blocked with the flying 
host. It has frequently been said that he was utterly 
callous to human life. This is far from being true. 
He had not saved his men and he had not saved the 
enemy, but he had been cruel only to be kind. The 
policy that he had so far adopted had been with the 
hope of bringing the war to a speedy conclusion and 
by this means of saving many lives and much prop- 
erty. The heart of the man is excellently shown 
in his thoughts as he looked upon Lee's retreating 
army. " At all events," he afterward wrote, " I had 
not the heart to turn the artillery upon such a mass 
of defeated and fleeing men, and I hoped to capture 
them soon. 7 ' 

He saw the end in sight and he was anxious that it 
should come as speedily as possible, and so, on April 7, 
while his troops were conducting a vigorous pursuit 
of Lee he sent the Southern general the following 
message : 

" The result of the last week must convince you 
of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part 
of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. 
I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift 
from myself the responsibility of any further effusion 
of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that por- 



222 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tion of the Confederate States army known as the 
Army of Northern Virginia." 

Lee put on a bold front and replied that he could 
not see matters in the light in which Grant saw them, 
but in his heart he knew the end had come. ~No 
reinforcements were coining to his aid, deserters were 
leaving him every day, and his army was almost starv- 
ing. He continued his flight and on the 9th reached 
Appomattox Court House, but Sheridan, Ord, and 
Griffin had reached that place simultaneously, and 
after a brief show of resistance, Lee gave up the 
struggle. He and his army were treated generously 
by Grant, — too generously many thought, but that the 
North and the South in the few years that have 
passed since the war have become reconciled is due 
very largely to the noble treatment Grant meted out 
to his enemies. Had he treated Robert E. Lee 
harshly, the irreconcilables in the South might have 
remained in the field for years, and kept up a guer- 
rilla warfare such as the Boers maintained against 
Great Britain and her vast armies in South Africa. 

The memorable meeting between General Lee and 
General Grant at Appomattox is one of the most strik- 
ing in history. They met as friends, it would 
seem, rather than as enemies, and Grant at this mo- 
ment appeared to have been more deeply impressed 
by the character of Lee in adversity than by the 
negotiations. His description of Lee in his Memoirs 
is more than a picture of Lee on this great occasion, 
it is a revelation of the character of Grant. 

" What General Lee's feelings were," he wrote, " I 
do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, 
with an impassible face, it was impossible to say 
whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally 
come or felt sad over the result, and was too manly 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



223 



to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were en- 
tirely concealed from my observation; but my own 
feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt 
of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like 
anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a 
foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had 
suffered so much for a cause, though that cause, I 
believe, one of the worst for which a people ever 
fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. 
I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great 
mass of those who were opposed to us." 

That night there was rejoicing in the Union lines 
and salutes were fired in honour of the surrender: 
but Grant was grave; his spirit was burdened with 
what he had been through, and as he heard those 
salutes he remembered the noble soldier who had 
just capitulated, just given up the struggle after four 
years of brave and skilful warfare. This rejoicing 
could not but hurt him deeply and Grant was not the 
man to cause unnecessary pain to a fallen foe, es- 
pecially to one as refined and chivalric as Lee, and so 
he ordered the Union soldiers to cease firing the 
salutes. This was no time for unnecessary self lauda- 
tion, — this was the moment to begin reconstruction, 
to draw Secessionists into the Union by love, and 
so he said : " The war is over ; the rebels are again 
our countrymen, and the best sign of rejoicing after 
the victory will be to abstain from all demonstration 
in the field." 

It was Grant's attitude to the defeated South that 
had more than anything else to do with peaceful 
reconstruction. ]^"ever in the history of the world 
was a civil war wound up with so little bloodshed ; 
and never in the history of the world had there been 
such a gigantic civil war, and that it was so quietly 



224 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



settled was due largely to Grant who endeavoured 
to carry out with the South the policy of Lincoln, 
with which he so strongly sympathised. 

This last year of the war had been a most expensive 
one to the Union Army. General Grant had certain- 
ly not husbanded the lives of his men. Since cross- 
ing the Rapidan 12,663 men had been killed, 49,559 
wounded and 20,498 missing, in all 82,720. 

It would naturally be expected that Grant would 
have had a strong desire to visit the Southern capital, 
Richmond. A triumphal march into that city would 
certainly have delighted any soldier fond of display : 
but Grant was not fond of display. The one thing 
he had desired from the beginning of the war was to 
finish it as quickly and as effectually as possible. 
There could be nothing gained by a visit to Rich- 
mond, and so after the surrender of Lee at Appo- 
mattox Court House he hastened to Washington to 
bring the war to a conclusion. He had said to his 
army on the occasion of Lee's surrender " the war 
is over," but there was still much work to be done, 
although no more heavy fighting was to be expected. 

He had scarcely arrived in Washington before 
the assassination of Lincoln took place. Grant looked 
upon this as a great calamity, particularly for the 
South. He believed that had Lincoln lived he would 
have proved the best friend the South ever had and 
that under him reconstruction would have gone on 
more quickly and quietly than it did under Johnson 
and himself. However, he did much to carry out the 
wishes of Lincoln with regard to the South, and his 
generous treatment of Lee was perfectly in harmony 
with Lincoln's policy. 

After the death of Lincoln the Confederate forces 
in the field rapidly surrendered. Already, on April 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



225 



11, Mobile had fallen, and on the 18th Johnston's 
army surrendered to Sherman. The terms were, 
however, considered too liberal and Sherman was 
much abused by the President, the Secretary of War, 
and by the public in the North, but Grant stood by 
him and acted with great delicacy in straightening 
out matters, and finally on the 26th, Johnston sur- 
rendered on the same terms on which Lee surrendered 
to Grant. In no action in his life did Grant appear 
to better effect than in the way in which he dealt 
with his tried friend Sherman in the matter of John- 
ston's surrender. By the end of April there was not 
a Confederate force of any importance left in the 
field. Grant meanwhile was hard at work in Wash- 
ington getting ready for disbanding the armies, and 
stopping the purchase of supplies. His work in the 
months immediately after the war saved his country 
many millions of dollars. 

The war was over and it was decided as the final 
act of the war to have a grand review of the troops 
in Washington. For two days the battle-scarred 
armies marched past the general who had led them 
on so many victorious battle-fields. On May 24, the 
Army of the Potomac, which had so long endured 
so much without making material progress but which 
had finally run the great general of the South to 
earth, marched in triumph through the streets of the 
Capital; and on the following day the Army of the 
West, led by Sherman, fully restored to popular 
favour, marched through the crowded streets. The 
four years of fighting had made these men veterans. 
The army that lined past General Grant on these 
momentous days was the greatest army the world has 
ever seen, — greatest because as brave as any in th© 



IS 



226 PKESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



world and at the same time possessed of intelligence 
without a parallel. 

General Grant was ever a man of few words but 
he could not alloy/ his veterans to go to their homes 
without unburdening his heart to them. His fare- 
well address to his soldiers at the close of the Civil 
war is one of the most important of his life and not 
unworthy to be studied beside Lincoln's Gettysburg 
speech. 

" Soldiers of the Armies of the United States : 

" By your patriotic devotion to your country in 
the hour of danger and alarm, your magnificent fight- 
ing, bravery and endurance, you have maintained the 
supremacy of the Union and Constitution, over- 
thrown all armed opposition to the enforcement of 
the laws, and of the proclamation forever abolishing 
slavery — the cause and pretext of the rebellion— and 
opened the way to the rightful authority to restore 
order and inaugurate peace on a permanent and 
enduring basis on every foot of American soil. Your 
marches, sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, 
resolution and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre 
of the world's past military achievements, and will 
be the patriot's precedent in defence of liberty and 
right in all time to come. In obedience to your 
country's call you left your homes and families, and 
volunteered in its defence. Victory has crowned 
your valour, and secured the purpose of your patriotic 
hearts; and with the gratitude of your countrymen, 
and the highest honours a great and free nation can 
accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your 
homes, conscious of having discharged the highest 
duty of American citizens. To achieve these glorious 
triumphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow- 
countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free in- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 227 

stitutions, tens of thousands of your gallant comrades 
have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their 
lives. The graves of these a grateful nation bedews 
with tears, honours their memories, and will ever 
cherish and support the stricken families." 



228 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

president ulysses s. grant (Concluded). 

Until the close of the Civil war General Grant 
had of necessity to concentrate his mind upon the 
great struggle in which he was playing a leading 
part. So far he had been altogether a soldier, but 
now he was forced to take an interest in questions 
of statesmanship. 

During the progress of the war, the European 
Powers in defiance of the Monroe Doctrine had inter- 
fered in Mexican affairs. The situation had been 
gravely considered by Lincoln and his cabinet, but, 
with their hands tied by the struggle at home, it 
would have been unwise to become embroiled with 
the Powers who were, one and all eager to see the 
Republic come to grief. The war over, however, 
the United States was prepared to deal promptly 
and decidedly with the Mexican matter. Prance was 
alone in the field at this time supporting Maximilian 
who had been placed on the throne by her armies. 
General Grant sent Sheridan with a strong force to 
the Rio Grande river to observe the movements of 
the French. As a result of this step the French 
army was withdrawn from Mexico and Maximilian 
was ultimately dethroned and executed. 

Jt would have been a serious matter iov my Power 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



229 



to have declared war against the United States at 
this stage of her history. At this time, despite the 
criticism of some of the Europeans that her army 
was nothing hut an armed mob, she had the largest 
and best trained force in the world. Modern war- 
fare has proved that for the making of a fighting 
force experience in the field is needed, and excepting 
for the work done by France and England in the 
Crimean war, and by England in the Indian Mutiny 
she alone had a large army of troops disciplined on 
the bloodiest battle-fields of the century. 

Shortly after the surrender of General Lee a 
United States court in Virginia indicted Lee and 
others, who took part as leaders in the rebellion, of 
treason, and in many quarters there was a desire that 
somewhat severe punishment should be meted out to 
these men. President Johnson, through personal 
animosity, at this time at any rate, strongly favoured 
harsh treatment for the Confederate leaders. Grant 
was opposed to such a course and he fearlessly spoke 
his opposition. He was for peace, a permanent and 
abiding peace with the South, and he believed that 
harshness would be the means of increasing a spirit 
of animosity in the South against the North that 
would greatly protract the struggle between the two 
great sections of his country. He came to Lee's 
rescue and vigorously maintained that these men 
could not be tried for treason unless they broke their 
parole. Johnson was hard to move, but Grant 
threatened to resign unless his wishes in the matter 
were agreed with; and the nation on the whole sup- 
ported him. His letter to President J ohnson at this 
time shows his attitude. 

" In my opinion," he wrote, " the officers and men 
paroled at Appomattox Court House, and since, upon 



230 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the same terms given to Lee, cannot be tried for trea- 
son so long as they observe the terms of their parole. 
This is my understanding. Good faith, as well as 
true policy, dictates that we should observe the con- 
ditions of that convention. Bad faith on the part of 
the government, or a construction of that conven- 
tion subjecting the officers to trial for treason, would 
produce a feeling of insecurity in the minds of all 
the paroled officers and men. If so disposed, they 
might even regard such an infraction of terms by the 
government as an entire release from all obligations 
on their part." 

When the war was definitely concluded and the 
armies for the most part disbanded, Grant who was 
now the hero of his country visited many parts of the 
Union and was everywhere received with the greats 
est enthusiasm. Gifts of houses and money were 
bestowed upon him and the Universities honoured 
him with their degrees. Nothing pleased him more, 
however, than the welcome he received from the 
citizens of his adopted town, Galena. Four years 
before he had left it an obscure soldier, untried as 
an army leader, no one expecting much from the 
quiet unassuming clerk who had walked their streets. 
Now he was returning the hero of the greatest civil 
war in the world's history, the leader of the largest 
armies of modern times, and generally recognised 
as the peer of Wellington and Napoleon. Strange 
romance it all seemed, but in the shouting crowds 
that welcomed him were many scarred and battered 
soldiers who knew the reality of it all, and many 
widows and mothers whose sons had fallen while 
following this man in the battle-hour, and to them, 
too, it was all a stern reality ; but at this moment they 
forgot their sorrow and rejoiced that they had given 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



231 



of their best to help him save his country and put 
down the curse of slavery. 

The President was anxious to begin reconstruction 
at once and sent General Grant to the South on 
a tour of inspection. He visited Raleigh, Charleston, 
Savannah, and Augusta and paid some attention to 
the Treedmen's Bureau. He had been included in 
the assassination plot that ended the life of Lincoln 
and almost ended the life of Seward, but he had now 
no fear of assassination in the South. While on his 
visit he mingled freely with all classes and was in a 
way welcomed by all. On his return he made a 
report which included the following optimistic sen- 
tences : 

" I am satisfied that the mass of thinking men of 
the South accept the present situation of affairs in 
good faith. The questions which have hitherto 
divided the sentiments of the people of the two 
sections — slavery and States rights, or the right of a 
State to secede from the Union — they regard as hav- 
ing been settled forever by the highest tribunal — 
arms — that man can resort to. I was pleased to learn 
from the leading men whom I met, that they not only 
accepted the decision arrived at as final, but, now 
that the smoke of battle has cleared away, and time 
has been given for reflection, that this decision has 
been a fortunate one for the whole country, they 
receiving the like benefits from it with those who 
opposed them in the field and in the council." 

He was not able to give the attention he desired 
to the Freedmen's Bureau, but with regard to it, too, 
he made wise recommendations to the government. 

He had already been highly honoured but he was 
to receive still further honours. The House, to show 
its appreciation of the work he had done, revived the 



232 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



grade of " General of the Army of the United 
States." This grade had never been held by any 
American except Washington and the terms of the 
bill provided that when the office became vacant 
"this act shall thereupon expire and remain no longer 
in force." The Senate by an almost unanimous 
vote concurred with the action of the House, and 
Grant became General while his friend Sherman 
was advanced to the rank of Lieuten ant-General. 

At the beginning of President Johnson's term 
General Grant had shown a great deal of independ- 
ence, particularly in regard to the treatment which 
the President seemed desirous of meting out to 
the rebel leaders. Johnson saw that he had a 
force to deal with that might in time cause him con- 
siderable trouble and so he made an effort to get 
Grant out of the way by honouring him with a 
special mission to Mexico. General Grant, however, 
refused to go on this mission, and it was not in the 
President's power to compel him to obey. A further 
effort was made to send him to the West, but this, 
too, was abandoned. It was well for the South that 
it was, for Grant by his presence at Washington did 
much to control affairs in the nation's best interests. 

As has already been pointed out Johnson and his 
cabinet and Congress did not get on well together. 
Secretary Stanton refused to resign at Johnson's 
request and Johnson suspended him and appointed 
General Grant Secretary ad, interim. It was believed 
by many that General Grant was a mere tool in the 
hands of the President, but he had accepted this 
position having but little faith in the President and 
solely because he had an ardent desire " to clean out 
the office, cut down expenses, and reform abuses." In 
accepting the position he acted with his usual openness 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



233 



and wrote to Stanton in the following words : " In 
notifying you of my acceptance, I cannot let the op- 
portunity pass without expressing to you my apprecia- 
tion of the zeal, patriotism, firmness, and ability 
with which you have ever discharged the duties of 
Secretary of War." 

That Stanton thoroughly understood Grant's 
position is evidenced from his reply : " Under a 
sense of public duty, I am compelled to deny the 
President's right under the Constitution and laws of 
the United States, to suspend me from office as Sec- 
retary of War, or authorise any person to enter upon 
the discharge of that office or to require me to trans- 
fer to him or any other persons the records, books, 
papers and other property in my official custody and 
charge as Secretary of War. 

" But inasmuch as the President has assumed to 
suspend me from office as Secretary of War, and you 
have notified me of your acceptance of the appoint- 
ment of Secretary of War ad interim, I have no 
alternative but to submit under protest to the super- 
ior force of the President. 

" You will please accept my acknowledgment of 
the kind terms in which you have notified me of your 
acceptance of the President's appointment, and my 
cordial reciprocation of the sentiments expressed." 

That General Grant had lost none of his independ- 
ence of character by his appointment was soon made 
evident to the nation. Five days after suspending 
Stanton, Andrew Johnson issued orders dismissing 
Sheridan from his command in the South-West. 
Grant believed that Sheridan was proving himself 
an able administrator and did not hesitate to point 
this out to the President. He had been asked to give 



234 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



suggestions with regard to the matter and the sug- 
gestions must have somewhat startled Johnson. 

" I am pleased," Grant wrote, " to avail myself of 
this invitation to urge, earnestly urge, urge in the 
name of a patriotic people who have sacrificed 
hundreds of thousands of loyal lives and thousands 
of millions of treasure to preserve the union and 
integrity of this country, that this order be not 
insisted on. It is unmistakably the expressed wish of 
the country that General Sheridan should not be 
removed from bis present command. This is a re- 
public where the will of the people is the law of the 
land. I beg that their voice may be heard. 

" General Sheridan has performed his civil duties 
faithfully and intelligently. His removal will only 
be regarded as an effort to defeat the laws of Con- 
gress. It will be interpreted by the unreconstructed 
element in the South, those who did all they could 
to break up this government by arms, and now wish 
to be the only element consulted as to the method 
of restoring order, as a triumph. It will embolden 
them to renewed opposition to the will of the loyal 
masses, believing that they have the Executive with 
them." 

The people were at this time with Congress, and 
Grant's attitude on the Sheridan matter, and his 
dignified protest showed the country that he too was 
with their representatives. He grew more and more 
in favour with the nation and he was very soon 
spoken about as the nominee of the Republican party 
at the next Presidential election. He had proved 
himself a great soldier, and his firmness at this time 
and his splendid administration of the War Depart- 
ment made his fellow-countrymen believe that he 
would prove a success in the White House. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 235 

When the Senate refused to sustain President 
Johnson's suspension of Secretary Stanton, Grant 
promptly handed over his office to the suspended 
Secretary. This action caused bitter words to pass 
between the President and the General but the na- 
tion thoroughly approved of Grant's course in stand- 
ing by Congress at this crisis and he grew greatly 
in popular favour. He had done the duties devolv- 
ing on him while in charge of the War Department 
with greater wisdom, knowledge and thoroughness 
than had Stanton, and the President despite his 
annoyance with him, unhesitatingly acknowledged it, 
saying that " salutary reforms have been introduced 
by the Secretary ad interim, and great reduction in 
expenses have been effected under his administration 
of the War Department, to the saving of millions to 
the Treasury." 

General Grant's popularity as the saver of the 
Union, his excellent work in the difficult years im- 
mediately following the assassination of President 
Lincoln, his dignified conduct in the difficult situa- 
tion in which he found himself placed after the war, 
being forced to take sides either with his President 
or with Congress, the lack of available leaders among 
the more experienced politicians all made it evident 
that Grant would be the next nominee for the Presi- 
dency ; and when the Republican Convention met in 
Chicago in May, 1868, he received the unanimous 
vote of the 650 delegates who were present. After 
having reflected carefully over the honour done him 
he accepted the nomination in the following words : 

" In formally accepting the nomination of the 
National Union Republican Convention of the 21st 
of May instant, it seems proper that some statement 



236 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of views beyond the mere acceptance of the nomi- 
nation should be expressed. 

" The proceedings of the Convention were marked 
with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and I 
believe expressed the feelings of the great mass of 
those who sustained the country through its recent 
trials. I endorse the resolution. 

" If elected to the office of President of the United 
States, it will be my endeavour to administer all the 
laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view 
of giving peace, quiet and protection everywhere. 
In times like the present it is impossible, or at least 
eminently improper, to lay down a policy to be 
adhered to, right or wrong, through an administra- 
tion of four years. ISTew political issues, not fore- 
seen, are constantly arising; the views of the public 
on old ones are constantly changing and the purely 
administrative officer should always be left free to 
execute the will of the people. I have always re- 
spected that will, and always shall. 

" Peace and universal prosperity — its sequence — 
with economy of administration will lighten the bur- 
den of taxation, while it constantly reduces the na- 
tional debt. Let us have peace." 

The last four words of this note really contain the 
whole of Grant's statesmanship. A politician in the 
ordinary sense of the word he never was, but in all 
things he desired that his country should have 
peace within her borders and without. This, indeed, 
was his aim while he led the great armies of the 
North. After every battle he fought his thought was 
how much nearer are we to peace. But it requires 
more than this to make a successful ruler ; and while 
Grant had fine administrative qualities, had due re- 
spect for the rights of other nations, and great integ- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



237 



rity, he lacked the power of seeing through men, a 
power which only comes hy long experience. 

When the elections took place in November, Grant 
and Colfax carried 26 States with 214 electoral 
votes, while Seymour and Blair, the Democratic nom- 
inees, had but 8 States with 80 electoral votes. 

While Grant was not a great statesman, some very 
important legislation was successfully passed with his 
approval during his first term. One of the first mat- 
ters that came before his attention was the annexa- 
tion of Santo Domingo. In the summer of 1869, 
representatives from Santo Domingo approached the 
President with the hope that he would see fit to 
advise the annexation of their country to the United 
States. After very carefully considering the matter 
he laid it before Congress. Legislation was delayed 
on it for several years and then his proposals were 
rejected by the Senate. The country was not yet 
prepared to begin its imperial career. The reasons 
why Grant favoured this annexation are interesting. 
He saw that in the end the United States might have 
to contend with a great colour difficulty. He hoped 
that Santo Domingo would attract the coloured 
people from the South, and that they might there 
have an independent State or States governed by 
their own race ; besides, the island was close to the 
United States, it was very fertile and, according to 
him, " capable cf supporting 15,000,000 of people." 

When the increase of the coloured population in 
the South is considered, and the suggestions with 
regard to the removal of at least a portion of the 
emancipated race out of the country is weighed, it 
will be evident that Grant's proposal had in it at 
least an element of wisdom. 

During the first administration reconstruction 



238 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



went on, and although there were conflicts between 
the whites and the blacks in the South matters were 
gradually settling down to their old basis, so much 
so, that in May, 1872, Congress felt that the time 
was ripe for passing an amnesty bill which restored 
the civil rights to all but about 350 persons in the 
South. The disfranchised were men who had held 
prominent positions under the Confederate govern- 
ment. One of the most important acts which 
received the earnest support of Grant was the 
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution which was 
declared in force on March 30, 1870. By this " the 
right of the citizens of the United States to vote 
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States 
or any State on account of race, colour, or previous 
condition of servitude." Grant took greater pride in 
this piece of legislation than in anything else that 
occurred during his term of office. 

The Civil war still left behind it some clearing up 
of an international character. Britain had shown 
sympathy with the South, at any rate at the com- 
mencement of the war, and the " Alabama Claims " 
had not yet been settled. But in 1871 this and other 
matters were dealt with by the Treaty of Washing- 
to. By this Treaty the Joint High Commission 
provided for the settlement of the " Alabama 
Claims " by a board of Arbitration to be held at 
Geneva, Switzerland. The San Juan boundary dis- 
pute was left to the decision of the Emperor of Ger- 
many. Besides this several minor matters relating to 
the fisheries of Canada and the navigation of the St. 
Lawrence and the Great Lakes was dealt with. 
This Treaty of Washington marks a decided step in 
advance in international affairs. Arbitration was 
appealed to instead of arms, indeed so many ques- 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



239 



tions 1?ep<3 settled by arbitration during Grant's 
terms of office that he might almost be called the 
father of the arbitration movement between nations. 
The San Juan question was settled in favour of the 
United States and the Board of Arbitration left to 
decide the Alabama Claims gave damages to the 
United States to the extent of $15,500,000. This 
claim was promptly paid by Great Britain. 

The civil service, as might have been expected at 
a time when the national expenditures were so large, 
was very corrupt, and President Grant strongly 
favoured civil service reform. He was, however, too 
honest a man to recognise the corruption in the 
officials under him, and although he ever tried to 
have honesty and purity in every department of the 
government, corruption went on and increased 
during his term as President. He was, indeed, to 
a great extent the dupe of capitalists and professional 
politicians, and his name would have gone down to 
the ages with greater lustre had he never been 
President. 

However, there Avas no blot upon his own name, 
and his endeavour ever was to bring about peace in all 
things, to make the world the better for his having 
lived in it. His policy in dealing with nations was 
to deal with them " as equitable law requires indi- 
viduals to deal with each other.'' As a result of his 
attitude war within the country and without became 
a very remote thing. He even did much to check 
Indian warfare by treating the original inhabitants 
of this country with greater humanity, than had 
been shown to them in the past. His whole desire 
with regard to them was to so legislate that they 
might become truly civilised and Christianised in- 
habitants of this country. 



24:0 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



His reconstruction policy and the weaknesses 
which developed themselves in the conduct of differ- 
ent departments of the government made him many 
bitter enemies, and when the time came round for 
again making nominations for President he found 
that a part of the Republican party had become 
alienated. Among these men were such brilliant 
minds as Charles Sumner and Horace Greeley, but 
the Republican Convention which met in Philadel- 
phia, June 5, 1872, approved of his reconstruction 
policy, and of his general management of affairs and 
renominated him by acclamation. The Liberal 
Republican party which met in Cincinnati on May 
1, 1872, had nominated an independent ticket with 
Horace Greeley for President, and this nomination 
was endorsed by the Democratic Convention which 
met in Baltimore on June 9. 

President Grant accepted re-nomination in the 
following terms : 

" I accept the nomination, and through you return 
my heartfelt thanks to your constituents for this 
mark of their confidence and support. If elected in 
November, and protected by a kind Providence, in 
health and strength to perform the duties of the 
high trust conferred, I promise the same zeal and 
devotion to the good of the whole people for the 
future of my official life as shown in the past. Past 
experience may guide me in avoiding mistakes inev- 
itable with novices in all professions and in all 
occupations. 

" When relieved from the responsibilities of my 
present trust by the election of a successor, whether 
it be at the end of this term or the next, I hope to 
leave to him, as Executive, a country at peace within 
its own borders, at peace with outside nations, with 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



241 



a credit at home and abroad, and without embarrass- 
ing questions to threaten its future prosperity. With 
the expression of a desire to see a speedy healing of 
all bitterness of feeling between sections, parties 
or races of citizens, and the time when the title of 
citizen carries with it all the protection and privilege 
to the humblest that it does to the most exalted, I 
subscribe myself, etc." 

It will be noted that in this letter of acceptance 
he once more reiterates his desire for peace. The 
greatest warrior of modern times seems to have had 
but one idea, peace, and it is with the thought of 
peace in his mind that he closes his Memoirs ten years 
later. 

The Presidential campaign of 1872 was a bitter 
one. There was, as has been pointed out, a split in 
the Kepublican party. Many of the members of that 
party were disgusted with the corruption which was 
practised by many of the officials ; others were 
opposed to the reconstruction policy of the govern- 
ment, and some were alienated because the govern- 
ment was not as corrupt as they would like it to be. 
These estranged friends of the party vilified and 
abused the President, but as he had experienced such 
things during the Civil war it only made him the 
more determined to win, and win he did, with a 
popular vote of 3,597,070 to Greeley's 2,834,079. 
He carried 31 States, while his opponent had but six. 
The election was to him as great a victory as Don- 
elson, Shiloh or Appomattox. That he had felt 
the abuse heaped upon him and the unjust accusa- 
tions made against him during the campaign was 
evident from his inaugural address, but while refer- 
ring to this abuse he could at the same time say, 
" I feel that I can disregard it, in view of your ver- 



242 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



diet, which I gratefully accept as my vindication." 

There is no doubt that, so far as holding the corrupt 
professional politician in check, he had been a weak 
President. But the reconstruction policy of the 
government was the great issue and the country on 
the whole was with the government and did not 
feel like " swapping horses while crossing the 
stream." Besides Grant was still the hero of his 
country, his great victories were still fresh in the 
memory of all. His chief opponents, on the other 
hand, were renegades from their party, and this had 
gone far to defeat them. 

During his first term the following cabinet was 
nominated by President Grant : Eiihu B. Washburne 
of Illinois, Secretary of State ; Alexander T. Stewart 
of New York, Secretary of the Treasury; Jacob D. 
Cox of Ohio, Secretary of the Interior ; Adolph E. 
Borie of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Navy ; John 
M. Schofield of Illinois, Secretary of War ; John A. 
J. Creswell of Maryland, Postmaster-General ; E. 
Rockwood Hoar of Massachusetts, Attorney-General. 
As Mr. Stewart was a merchant, he was disqualified 
under the law from accepting a cabinet position, and 
George S. Boutwell was appointed Secretary of the 
Treasury. A number of changes took place in the 
cabinet ; Mr. Washburne, who was appointed Minister 
to France, was succeeded by Hamilton Eish of New 
York; Mr. Schofield retired and Grant's old friend 
John A. Rawlins became Secretary of War, and 
when he died in September of the same year, William 
W. Belknap was appointed to the office ; in June Mr. 
Borie resigned and George M. Robeson became Sec- 
retary of the Navy. In July, 1870, Mr. Hoar 
resigned and A. T. Akerman of Georgia became 
Attorney-General; he, too, resigned in 1871 and his 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



243 



office was filled by George H. Williams. In 1870 
Mr. Cox resigned and was succeeded by Columbus 
Delano of Ohio. After General Grant's inaugura- 
tion in 1873 he made but one change in his cabinet, 
nominating William M. Kichardson of Massachusetts, 
for Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Mr. Bout- 
well. During his second term, too, there were several 
important cabinet changes. Mr. Eichardson was 
succeeded by Mr. Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky, 
and Lot M. Morrill of Maine. Other changes which 
occurred during the second term were as follows : 
Mr. Creswell was succeeded as Postmaster-General 
by Marshall Jewell of Connecticut and he in turn 
by James M. Tyner of Indiana; Secretary of War 
Belknap was succeeded by J. Donald Cameron; 
Secretary of the Interior Delano was succeeded by 
Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, and Attorney-Gen- 
eral Williams was succeeded in turn, by Edwards 
Pierrepont of New York, and Alphonso Taft of 
Ohio. 

President Grant began his second term in a spirit 
of broad statesmanship. In his inaugural address he 
touched at some length on his wish to have Santo 
Domingo annexed to the United States and in doing 
so said : a I say, however, that I do not share in the 
apprehensions held by many as to the danger of the 
government becoming weakened and destroyed by 
reason of its extension, but rather believe that our 
great Kuler is preparing the world in His own good 
time to become one nation, speaking one language, 
and when armies and navies will no longer be 
required." 

It has long been the hope of the civilised world 
that in time the nations will become one great broth- 
erhood, and it has been the belief of the Anglo-Sax- 



244 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ons that English ideas and the English language 
will dominate the world. That state of affairs is 
still very far from being realised, but at the begin- 
ning of the twentieth century it is nearer than ever 
before, and that it is so, is very largely due to Ameri- 
can push and enterprise. The career of imperialism 
on which the United States has just entered in the 
West Indies and in the islands of the Pacific is the 
most important step taken so far towards a realisa- 
tion of this idea. It would almost seem as if Presi- 
dent Grant was intuitively forecasting the import- 
ance of his country as a civiliser of humanity when 
he uttered the words quoted from his second inau- 
gural address, 

During the second term the President's foreign 
policy was just, and worthy of any statesman. In 
his dealings with China and Japan he instructed his 
ministers to deal with these weaker Powers as " we 
would wish a strong nation to deal with us if we 
were weak." Difficulties arose with Spain due to 
the harsh treatment that country was meting out to 
the Cubans. Owing to the seizing of the " Virgin- 
ius " the two countries were on the verge of war. 
A war at that time with Spain would have been 
almost as popular as was the recent Spanish- Ameri- 
can war, but Grant knew too well the horrors of war, 
and very wisely averted it. 

Reconstruction difficulties still had to be dealt 
with. In Louisiana, in particular, affairs were in a 
very much disturbed condition, but the President 
handled the situation with wonderful wisdom, en- 
deavouring " to avoid any appearance of undue inter- 
ference in State affairs." In 1874 Congress passed 
a bill intended to increase the paper currency of the 
country, but Grant was for sound money and vetoed 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



245 



this " Inflation Bill, " giving with great clearness his 
reasons for his action. It was during his second 
term, too, that the famous " Whiskey King " was de- 
tected in its frauds against the revenue. Many of 
those concerned were men of position who had friends 
at court, but President Grant would " have no guilty 
man escape," and although every possible power 
was brought to bear to influence Him he remained 
unmoved and a number of the offenders were sent 
to the penitentiary. Whenever he saw fraud he 
punished it, but so honest was he, that ; throughout 
his entire presidential career, it w T as difficult to make 
him believe that trusted men could be dishonest. 
While he showed many traits of statesmanship, on the 
'whole he was a weak president, and the corruption 
that gathered head during his terms of office did much 
to pave the way for the downfall of the Kepublican 
party in 1884. 

In his farewell message he uttered some words on 
education which show the general character of his 
statesmanship. He maintained " that the States 
should be obliged to furnish a good common school 
education to all, and that the attendance of children 
therein should be compulsory, that no sectarian 
creeds nor tenets should be taught in any school; 
that after the year 1890 no person unable to read 
and write should be allowed to vote ; that Church and 
State should be declared forever separate and dis- 
tinct, while the utmost freedom of worship should 
be secured to all." 

This was not the first time he had dealt with 
this matter. In 1875 at a reunion of the Army 
of the Tennessee he uttered the same sentiments. 
" Encourage free schools," he said, " and resolve 
that not one dollar of money appropriated to 



246 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



their support, no matter how raised, shall be appro- 
priated to the support of any sectarian school. Re- 
solve that the State or nation, or both combined, 
shall furnish to every child growing up in the land 
the means of acquiring a good common school educa- 
tion, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic 
tenets." 

He was urged by many to stand for a third term, 
but he had had enough of the Presidential office, and 
so retired into private life after the inauguration of 
his successor Rutherford B. Hayes. 

It was impossible, however, for him to rest idle, 
and, on May 17, he began his celebrated pilgrimage 
around the world. He reached Queenstown, and 
was enthusiastically received by the Irish people, 
but was unable to sojourn among them at that time. 
He proceeded to Liverpool where he was welcomed 
with the greatest enthusiasm by all classes. In Lon- 
don he was given the freedom of the city, was wel- 
comed by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and 
visited Her Majesty at Windsor Castle. On the 
continent Kings, Emperors, Princes, and Presidents 
did him honour. He sailed to the East and was most 
enthusiastically received in Egypt, the Holy Land, 
and in India. In Burma, the Malay Peninsula, in 
Siam, in Cochin China, and at Hong Kong he was 
met with enthusiasm. He visited the interior of 
China and was honoured by the Celestials as no 
foreigner had ever before been honoured. In Japan 
the Celebration in his honour marked an epoch in 
Japanese history, but the greatest of all the celebra- 
tions during this trip and the one which delighted 
him most was the enthusiastic welcome he received 
from the people of the West in San Erancisco on his 
return to his own country. In the following year he 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



247 



visited Cuba and Mexico and was everywhere 
received with pageant and display. In Mexico in 
particular he had a warm welcome from the people 
who looked upon him as their deliverer from the 
French invader. All this makes strange reading. 
Seventeen years before the man who was thus hon- 
oured had been an unsuccessful farmer building his 
own log house, a failure in the real estate business, 
and finally a clerk in a leather store. Even the 
history of the great Napoleon does not present a more 
marvellous romance. 

After seeing all the earth and the fullness thereof, 
and being seen, it is said, by more eyes than ever 
looked upon any other human being, he returned to 
his home in Galena. 

A new election was approaching and the Republi- 
can party had few available candidates who had the 
confidence of the country. Some of the leaders of 
this party, such as Roscoe Conkling, wished Grant to 
stand for a third term believing that his war record 
and the prestige he had won for the American people 
during his tour of the world would carry the country. 
But the opposition to the idea of a third term was 
too strong and General Garfield received the nomi- 
nation of the party. 

In 1881 General Grant moved to New York City, 
where he lived quietly for several years. On Christ- 
mas eve of 1883 he slipped on the ice at the door of 
his own house, and so injured himself that until the 
end of his life he was forced to walk with the help of 
a crutch. After moving to New York he became a 
partner in the banking house of Grant and Ward. 
In May, 18S4, the firm suspended payment and 
Grant discovered himself a bankrupt. He had been 
hopelessly swindled and everything he owned had to, 



248 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



go to pay his debts. For a time it looked as if he 
were a partner to the guilt of the firm, as only a few 
days before the failure he had borrowed $100,000 
from MrVanderbilt,but he was in no way implicated 
in the swindling transaction of the establishment. 

This failure forced upon him a task greater than 
any he endured in the Wilderness. He desired to 
leave his family amply provided for; there was but 
one way in which he could do this — by his pen. He 
had often been asked to write his memoirs, and he 
now undertook the task of giving a history of his 
own life with particular reference to his campaigns. 
He had but little more than half completed the work 
when it was discovered that he was suffering from 
cancer at the root of his tongue, but he did not give 
in and bravely fought on at his work even while 
suffering intense pain, and four days before his 
death he was able to say, " it is finished." 

On Thursday, July 23, at eight o'clock in the 
morning he passed quietly away, — mourned by the 
whole nation, North and South alike: President 
Cleveland voiced the sentiment of every true Ameri- 
can when he said, in the proclamation announcing his 
death to the country, that he was " a great military 
leader who was, in the hour of victory magnanimous, 
amidst disaster serene and self -sustained. The great 
heart of the nation that followed him when living 
with love and pride, bows now in sorrow above him 
dead, tenderly mindful of his virtues and his great 
patriotic services." 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



249 



CHAPTEK XIV. 
president rutherford b. hayes. 
(One Administration, 1877-1881.) 

On the 4th of October, 1822, there was born in the 
little town of Delaware, on the western banks of the 
muddy Olentangy Eiver, a delicate child whom no one 
expected to live, but who was afterwards to be a skil- 
ful and courageous general and to attain the high 
honour of President of the United States. 

In 1817 and for several years before that time 
there had been a continuous movement westward from 
the ISTew England States. The War of 1812 had 
somewhat depressed these States, and turned the 
attention of many of the inhabitants to the broad and 
fertile West. Among others who were attracted was 
Rutherford Hayes, a well-to-do merchant in Brattle- 
boro. He was a man of Scotch descent, his ancestors, 
it is said, having fought with Baliol, William Wal- 
lace, and Eobert Bruce against the English. How- 
ever, towards the close of the seventeenth century, 
whatever wealth and power they may have had seems 
to have left them, for George Hayes, their descendant 
was unable to make a living in Scotland and so emi- 
grated to America, and settled down in Connecticut. 
The mother of the President was Sophia Birchard, 



250 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



likewise a descendant of Connecticut stock. Her an- 
cestors, too, had early settled in America, and both 
her grandfathers had fought through the War of the 
Revolution. 

At the beginning of the century the Hayes and the 
Birchard families were settled in Vermont, and it 
was here that Rutherford Hayes met his wife. The 
father of the President was too delicate a youth for 
the laborious work of the pioneer farmer and obtained 
a position as a clerk in a country store. He displayed 
considerable energy and economy in business and suc- 
ceeded in establishing a store of his own in Brattle- 
boro. He was prospering when the " Western fever" 
swept the East, and, although he had a capital of 
some three or four thousand dollars and a good busi- 
ness, decided to leave his home and seek his fortune 
in the Ohio Valley. He sold out his business and 
purchased a farm in the wilderness of Ohio. He 
packed his goods and family into a covered waggon 
drawn by three horses and thus made the long journey 
to Ohio. When he reached Delaware he found it a 
comfortable little town of some four hundred inhab- 
itants. It was a sturdy community, religious and 
intelligent, composed of the more enterprising and 
daring spirits from the Eastern States. Ohio's 
pioneer population was indeed drawn from the best 
stock in the East. 

When he reached his new home he seems to have 
lost his desire for farming, and instead of becoming a 
tiller of the soil, with his savings, procured an interest 
in a distillery. During the few years that were left 
to him of life he seems to have been a generous giver 
to the schools and churches of his adopted town. 

Four years after he reached Delaware a plague 
swept Ohio, carrying off many of the inhabitants, and 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



251 



among the first of its victims was Rutherford Hayes. 
About four months after his death his son Rutherford 
Birchard Hayes was born. As has already been said, 
the child was extremely delicate and its death was for 
several years anticipated. The mother, however, 
struggled diligently with it, and almost wore herself 
out in her efforts to save its life. Her friends thought 
her foolish ; one generous spirit among them is re- 
ported as having said to her when she saw her 
struggling night and day for the life of her boy : " the 
child must die ; and it is a waste of strength. I tell 
you the child is not worth saving." Had Rutherford 
Birchard Hayes been a Greek of the days of Pericles 
he would in all probability have been exposed on a 
hillside as unfit to live. However, the mother's love 
conquered, and although it was many years before her 
boy became strong, his life was soon out of danger, 
and as he grew in years his fine moral character and 
his keen intellect rewarded the mother for all her 
sacrifices. 

He seems to have been a model boy, a mother's boy, 
and had none of the mischief that is ordinarily to be 
found in the young. His uncle Sardis Birchard had 
migrated with his father from Vermont, and from 
the beginning took an interest in the fatherless child. 

He saw that he was bright beyond his fellows and 
decided that he was worthy of a college education. 
The common schools in Delaware were not capable of 
fitting him for his college course, and so he was placed 
under the private tutorship of J udge Sherman Finch, 
and made considerable progress in Latin and Greek. 
However, it was impossible to prepare fully for his 
matriculation in Delaware, and, due to the influence 
of his uncle, he went first to an academy at Norfolk, 
Ohio, in 1837, and afterwards to Isaac Webb's school 



252 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



at Middleton, Connecticut. After being thoroughly 
prepared for matriculation he entered Kenyon Col- 
lege, which was selected on account of its nearness 
to his mother's home in Delaware. 

He seems to have been an earnest, industrious stu- 
dent, and when he graduated, in 1842, stood at the 
head of his class, and was a general favorite with 
everybody connected with the institution. 

After leaving college he began the study of law 
in the office of Thomas Sparrow of Columbus. He, 
however, remained in this office but a short time. 
He was anxious to become thoroughly equipped for 
the practice of law, and so in 1843 entered the law 
school of Harvard University and studied diligently 
for two years under Judge Story and Professor 
Greenleaf . But little is known of his life at Harvard. 
Of one thing, however, we can be certain he could not 
but be influenced by the brilliant minds that were 
at that time in the great seat of learning. We do 
know that he did not limit himself to the study of law, 
but attended the lectures of the poet Longfellow in 
literature, and sat for a time at the feet of the great 
scientist whose impress has been left so strongly 
marked on American science, Agassiz. 

In March, 1845, he was admitted to the Bar and 
began the practice of law in Lower Sandusky (now 
Fremont) in Sandusky County, Ohio, where he 
formed a law partnership with Kalph P. Buckland. 
Por five years he remained in this place but seeing 
little chance of rising in his profession in such a 
community moved to Cincinnati. This was an ex- 
cellent step as it gave him a larger field for the prac- 
tice of his profession, and at the same time brought 
him in contact with a number of able and ambitious 
men. At first the change did not improve his 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



253 



financial position, and while waiting for his practice 
to grow he spent nrach time in the study of law and 
literature. Nothing, perhaps, did more for his 
development at this time than a literary club to which 
he belonged and in which he met such men as Salmon 
P. Chase, Thomas Ewing, and Moncure D. Conway. 

Two years after establishing himself in Cincinnati 
his prospects were so bright that he married Miss 
Lucy W. Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, a 
physician in Chillicothe. He continued to practice 
law assiduously and rose so much in the estimation of 
the community, that in 1856 he was nominated for the 
office of judge of the court of Common Pleas. He, 
however, declined this office. Two years later he was 
appointed city solicitor by the city council to fill a 
vacancy made by the death of Judge Hart. In the 
following year the people elected him to this office by 
a large majority. He was, however, defeated in the 
election of 1861, when Ohio went strongly Demo- 
cratic. 

During his entire legal career he had taken a 
warm interest in the politics of his country. Like 
many other Republicans he had been in the begin- 
ning an ardent Whig, and had consistently voted for 
the Whig leaders. He had been an anti-slavery 
advocate and when the Republican party was formed 
joined it and supported Premont in 1856 and Lincoln 
in 1860. When Lincoln was elected, and when 
South Carolina and the other Southern States began 
to secede he at once took a strong position with the 
North. A letter written by him on January 4, 1861, 
shows how firmly he was opposed to making any 
compromise with the Secessionists. 

" South Carolina has passed," he wrote, " a cession 
ordinance and Pederal laws are set at nought in the 



254 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



State. Overt acts enough have been committed, 
forts and arsenals having been taken, a revenue cutter 
seized, and Major Anderson besieged in Fort Sumter. 
Other cotton States are about to follow. Disunion 
and civil war are at hand; and yet I fear disunion 
and war less than compromise. We can recover from 
them. The Free States alone, if we must go on alone, 
will make a glorious nation. I do not feel gloomy 
when I look forward. The reality is less frightful 
than the apprehension which we have all had these 
many years. Let us be temperate, calm, and just, 
but firm and resolute. Crittenden's compromise! 
Windham, speaking of the rumour that Bonaparte 
was about to invade England, said, i The danger of 
invasion is by no means equal to that of peace. A 
man may escape a pistol, no matter how near his 
head, but not a dose of poison. ' " 

During the months when it was evident to every 
thinking man that war was inevitable Mr. Hayes had 
determined, despite the fact that his law practice had 
now become lucrative, to take up arms in behalf of 
the Union. When Sumter was fired upon and the 
call for men to serve for three months was sent forth 
he did not enlist. He knew that those who thought 
that the contest would be a short one would be mis- 
taken and expecting that very soon a call for more 
men for a long term would be issued he, with many 
of his comrades in Cincinnati, bided his time. How 
strongly he felt on the situation is shown in the follow- 
ing letter to a friend written in May, 1861 : 

" Matthews and I have agreed to go into the service 
for the war; if possible into the same regiment. I 
spoke my feelings to him, which he said were his also : 
viz. that this was a just and necessary war; that it 
demanded the whole power of the country; and that 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



255 



I would prefer to go into it, if I knew I were to die, 
or be killed in the course of it, rather than to live 
through and after it, without taking any part in it." 

He did not have long to wait, the government soon 
recognised the serious nature of the contest and en- 
listed men for a term of three years. Mr. Hayes at 
once offered his service to his State, and Governor 
Dennison was prepared to give him the command of a 
regiment ; but he refused the offer, believing that only 
experienced soldiers should be appointed to such 
important positions. He, however, accepted the posi- 
tion of Major of the 23rd Regiment of the Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry with W. S. Rosecrans, a dis- 
tinguished graduate of West Point, as Colonel. How- 
ever, before the regiment went into active service 
Colonel Rosecrans was promoted to the rank of briga- 
dier-general and another graduate of Yv 7 est Point, 
Colonel Scammon, took command of the 23rd Regi- 
ment. 

In this regiment were many brilliant men, several 
of whom were afterwards to become distinguished 
generals, and many, who were privates in the ranks, 
were before the end of the war to hold commissions. 
When Major Hayes received his appointment a young 
lad who was afterwards like Hayes to rise to the Pre- 
sidential chair, was carrying a musket in the ranks, 
— William McKinley the last President of the 
United States in the nineteenth century. 

After the regiment was properly organised and had 
undergone several months of drill, it was, in July, 
ordered into West Virginia. For several months it 
did much marching and counter-marching, suffering 
a good deal of hardship but gaining no glory. Major 
Hayes was appointed judge advocate on General 
Rosecrans' staff and for several months served in 



256 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

that capacity, but he rejoined his regiment in time to 
take an active part in the battle of Carnifex Ferry. 
The 23rd on this day did good work in threatening 
the enemy's rear, but did not come into close contact 
with them. Major Hayes saw no more fighting for 
the present but with his regiment spent the winter 
of 1861-62, doing a species of police duty against an 
elusive foe, and, although he did not experience any 
battles, on several occasions narrowly escaped with 
his life. Fighting began for him on May 1, 1862, 
when he led a small party against Princeton, which 
the Confederates held with a considerable force, and 
succeeded in driving the garrison out, capturing a 
goodly supply of arms and ammunition. 

Exciting times were at hand, however. General 
Lee marched " over the mountain wall " into Mary- 
land. It was necessary to concentrate the armies of 
the Union in the Eastern States against him. Major 
Hayes, for the excellent service he had done during 
the past year, had been offered the position of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of the 79th Ohio Regiment, and was 
struggling with himself whether to accept promotion 
or remain with his old regiment, when the 23rd was 
called from Virginia to Maryland to help drive Lee 
once more across the Potomac. As a result of this 
movement on the part of the enemy he was to take 
part in the battle of South Mountain, September 4, 
1862. It was the first time that the 23rd was to ex- 
perience a big battle, but from drummer boy to 
colonel all behaved as if they had been familiar with 
war all their lives. 

Of the regiment that had left Ohio in July, 1861, 
not half remained, — disease and hardship had 
worked havoc with the ranks. However, those who 
were left were eager for battle and when the com- 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



257 



mand was given to charge they fearlessly rushed for- 
ward, with the Major at their head. When they 
passed a piece of rising ground a perfect hail of grape 
shot and musketry swept their ranks. The ground 
was ploughed up in furrows and the trees through 
which they charged were denuded of their leaves and 
branches. At the first volley five officers and a hun- 
dred men fell killed or wounded, but the remainder 
of the gallant little company wavered not. Major 
Hayes was wounded in the arm and it was thought 
at first that he was killed, but as soon as he recovered 
from the shock he tied a handkerchief around his 
sleeve and once more gallantly led his men into 
action, and through the day he fought until, when 
faint from loss of blood, he was carried from the 
field. The 23rd were so well " shot over " on this 
occasion that they were ever afterwards among the 
veteran regiments of the war. 

Major Hayes' wound was so serious that he was 
compelled to go to hospital for some weeks, and of 
course missed the chance of being in the great battle 
of Antietam. As soon as tidings of his misfortune 
reached Ohio his wife hastened from her home in 
search of him. It was not an easy matter to find 
him, and she searched anxiously through the houses, 
barns, and sheds where the wounded of the battle of 
South Mountain had been placed, scanning eagerly 
the suffering faces for her husband. At last she 
found him, and with tender hands nursed him till he 
was able to rejoin his regiment. His one wish during 
his sickness seems to have been " to be on hand again 
shortly." 

When he recovered from his wound he found that 
Governor Dennison had in the meantime appointed 
him Colonel of his old regiment. However, he was 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



not again to lead it in action, as in December of that 
same year he was detailed to act as brigadier-general 
and placed in command of the Kanawha Division to 
which the 23rd was attached. 

While the great battles of Vicksburg and Gettys- 
burg were being fought, he was engaged in superin- 
tending the breaking of the lines of communication, 
and while he did good work had not the opportunity 
of displaying the qualities that make for rapid pro- 
motion. It was during this period that he materially 
assisted in the capture of John Morgan, the cele- 
brated rebel leader. The following account of the 
manner in which he helped to run this great Confed- 
erate soldier to earth shows, better perhaps than 
anything else in his career, that he had the quickness 
of perception and the dash that are only found in the 
greatest of soldiers : 

" Colonel Hayes rode forward to Fayetteville to 
obtain information, and, on reaching the town, gal- 
loped at once to the telegraph office, where, without 
dismounting, he called to the operator through the 
open window, i What's the news ? ' The man at the 
instrument turned, and was about to give him 
a brief history of events, when a signal came over the 
wires ; and the man said. i Hold, I am called.' 
Colonel Hayes then went into the office, and read the 
following despatch as it came from the instrument : — 
" John Morgan is crossing the Scioto at Piketon, 
Ohio, and is making for Gallipolis. He will arrive 
there day after to-morrow." 

" This was startling news to Colonel Hayes. ' John 
Morgan in Ohio/ he exclaimed, ' and making for 
Gallipolis ! ' The operator then explained that the 
rebel raider was hard beset by Union cavalry, and 
that he was evidently seeking escape from the State 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



259 



by crossing the Ohio river at Gallipolis, where there 
was no adequate force to dispute his passage, or to 
protect large quantities of supplies which had been 
collected there. Colonel Hayes comprehended the 
situation in an instant, and as quickly sent this des- 
patch over the wires : — 

" i Are there any steamboats at Charleston ? 7 
" k Yes, two/ was the almost immediate answer. 
" ( Send them up to Fayetteville at once/ Hayes 
responded. 

" ' All right/ replied the Charleston quarter- 
master. 

" Colonel Hayes, without having received another 
word of information, jumped into the saddle, and 
galloped back to camp fifteen miles. He reached 
camp at nightfall, and laid the whole matter before 
General Scammon, who gave him permission to take 
two regiments, and a section of artillery, and hasten 
to Gallipolis. He then announced his purpose to the 
soldiers, who greeted his orders with wild hurrahs. 
In half an hour his little column was in motion, grop- 
ing its way along the rough mountain road. The 
night was moonless, and the darkness sometimes so 
intense, that the regiment was compelled to halt until 
the clouds cleared, before they could go forward. All 
night the weary march was continued ; and, just as 
dawn began to streak the summits of the mountains, 
the column, reaching a high point overlooking the 
Kanawha valley, near Fayetteville, saw the two 
steamboats rounding a bend, and coming up the river. 
The troops and the boats reached the wharf almost 
simultaneously ; and, within an hour, the whole com- 
mand had embarked, and the steamers were under 
full headway down the Kanawha, their decks strewn 
with tired and sleeping soldiers. By daylight the 



260 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



next morning, the boats reached Gallipolis and the 
troops disembarked, and took up positions to defend 
the town. But Morgan had been advised by spies of 
their approach when six miles away, and turned his 
column northward toward Pomeroy, another point on 
the Ohio. Colonel Hayes instantly re-embarked, and 
steamed up the river to overtake him. He arrived 
in time to go out and meet the enemy while advancing 
upon the town ; but Morgan's officers were not long in 
discovering that something tougher was in front of 
them than militia regiments ; and they suddenly drew 
off, remounted, and made for Buffington's island, a 
point still farther up the river. Here Morgan seized 
a steamboat and had ferried over about three hundred 
of his men, when Colonel Hayes arrived, seized the 
boat, and put a stop to any further progress in that 
line. Morgan himself had crossed the river; but 
seeing that his main body was about to be cut off, he 
recrossed and remained with his soldiers to share 
their fortunes. After some fighting, he drew off 
again, and made for other points up the river. But 
the last opportunity for escape had passed; and the 
Confederate raiders, hardly beset by Generals Hobson 
and Shackelford, were speedily driven to the wall, 
and forced to surrender." 

For nearly a year but little was heard of the 
Kanawha Division, and it was not until General 
Grant had command of the armies of the Union that 
Colonel Hayes was again brought prominently to the 
front. 

At Cloyd Mountain the Union forces came on the 
Confederates strongly entrenched. Colonel Hayes led 
his brigade up a steep mountain in the face of a 
trying fire, but his soldiers were not to be checked. 
Over the enemy's breastworks they clambered, and 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



261 



with clubbed rifles beat the gunners back and cap- 
tured two guns. It was a gallant charge, but it was 
really only the beginning of the fight. On another 
spur of the mountain higher up and more strongly 
protected was another force of the enemy, and without 
any rest this too was stormed with the same results as 
at the first position. The ascent and the struggle had 
somewhat tired the Union soldiers but there was still 
no rest for them. Higher up yet was another spur 
and on this was the main body of the enemy, who 
having received reinforcements made a gallant stand. 
A fierce struggle took place — a hand to hand contest 
at the very muzzles of the guns — but in the end the 
Confederates were beaten back and the Union soldiers 
held possession of their guns. 

The next struggle they were to go through was 
that which culminated in the battles of Fisher's Hill 
and Cedar Creek, but in the meantime the brigade 
over which Colonel Hayes had command had much 
work to do. According to a correspondent who was 
with the force it " marched one hundred and eighty 
miles in the last nine days, fighting nearly all the 
time, and with very little to eat." 

Colonel Hayes was in the first battle of Winchester 
which took place on July 24, 1864. In this action 
the Union troops were sorely pressed, and it devolved 
upon him to protect the rear of the retreating army. 
A rear-guard fight is a difficult one, but he handled 
his men magnificently, retreating with skill and 
seizing every opportunity to turn and face the enemy. 
His work on this occasion did much to save the army 
of General Crook. 

At the beginning of the Shenandoah campaign 
his division made a vigorous campaign against Early 
and he was in the thick of the fight at Opequan 



262 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Creek, when the second battle of Winchester was 
fought. In this great fight, in which Early all bnt 
won through taking advantage of the absence of the 
Union cavalry, Colonel Hayes found his brigade 
under a heavy fire from musketry and artillery. His 
soldiers wavered, but he had no thought of turning 
back. Placing himself at their head he commanded 
them to charge forward on the double quick. 
Through the thick underbrush they advanced until a 
deep and muddy ditch was reached. A rebel battery 
was planted on the further side, and as his brigade 
would in all probability have been cut to pieces had 
it taken time to go round this ditch he decided that 
there was nothing for it but to charge through the 
seemingly impassable barrier. Into the thick water 
he spurred his horse which in a few moments was 
stuck fast in the deep mud. He had burnt his ships 
behind him ; it was easier to continue the advance 
now than to turn back, and so, dismounting, he waded 
ashore and waving to his men, pointed towards the 
battery. His gallant fellows, under his inspiration, 
threw themselves into the stream to follow in his 
steps, many of them were drowned and a number 
killed by the searching fire that swept their ranks. 
There was no resisting such a leader and such men; 
the enemy fled before the impetuous charge, which 
had not a little to do with forcing General Early to 
fall back to Eisner's Hill. 

Early was rapidly followed up and on the 22nd 
was once more vigorously attacked by Sheridan. In 
this fight Colonel Hayes executed a magnificent 
flank movement over difficult ground and succeeded 
in reaching the rear of Early's force, which was thus 
threatened with annihilation. Colonel Hayes re- 
mained at the head of his men throughout the day and 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



263 



gallantly led the final charge which had the effect of 
scattering the enemy in confusion and many pris- 
oners and guns were captured. 

Early, however, was not forced to surrender and a 
few days later at Cedar Creek, knowing that the bulk 
of the cavalry were absent from Sheridan's army, 
attacked Crook's Division. In this fight, which for 
a time looked serious for the Union, Hayes was 
once more to prove himself an excellent strategist. 
He conducted a rear-guard fight that did much to save 
the day. His work enabled Crook to make an effec- 
tive stand against Early's desperate troops. During 
the fight Hayes at one time saw some of his men 
wavering and galloped forward at full speed through 
a fierce fire to rally them. His horse was shot under 
him and he was thrown so heavily that for a time it 
was thought that he was killed. He was, however, 
only stunned, and as soon as he recovered from the 
fall urged his men to charge into the enemy's ranks. 
It was not, however, until Sheridan galloped down 
the Winchester road and put new life into the army 
that the day was decided. 

It was on this day that General Crook seized 
Hayes by the hand on the battle-field and exclaimed, 
" Colonel from this day you will be a brigadier- 
general." Soon after this incident his commission 
arrived. He had been acting brigadier-general for 
some time, but he now took rank as one, having been 
awarded the commission " for gallant and merito- 
rious service in the battles of Winchester, Eisner's 
Hill, and Cedar Creek." 

He took part in no engagements after this, and 
when the war was over returned to his home having, 
with the exception of a few weeks, fought continuous- 
ly through the long struggle. He had proved him- 



264 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



self one of the best generals in the army, and although 
without military experience before taking up the 
sword in July, 1861, had proved himself a worthy 
rival of the best generals educated at West Point. 
His judgment and courage attracted the attention of 
his superiors, and such a finished warrior as Grant 
had for him words of the highest praise. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, 



265 



CHAPTEE XV. 

president eutheeford b. hates (Continued.) 

General Hayes had not laid down the sword 
before he found himself entering upon another field 
of battle in the council chambers of his country. He 
had ever taken a warm interest in politics, and had 
been a most enthusiastic admirer of Daniel Webster 
and the other great Whig leaders. So much did he 
admire Webster, that, it is said, he could repeat many 
of his speeches without missing a word. In 1853, he 
began to take an active interest in the Free Soil move- 
ment and joined a Free Soil club which was formed 
in Cincinnati. His growing law practice had, how- 
ever, kept him from devoting his time to politics, but 
it was only a matter of a few years before he would 
be drawn into the political life of his country. 

In 1864 the Republicans of the second congress- 
ional district of Ohio realised that if they were going 
to win they must place the strongest possible man in 
the field. Hayes, although on active service, was 
chosen. He was requested to resign from the army, 
and return to his native State and assist in the cam- 
paign. To this request he gave a characteristic reply : 
" I have other business just now. Any man who 
would leave the army at this time to electioneer for 
Congress ought to be scalped." This reply no doubt 



266 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



was as effective a way of canvassing as he could have 
adopted, and the election cry, " Hayes is stumping 
the Shenandoah valley " helped materially to give 
him a large majority. After the election he was 
urged to resign his commission in the army, but 
would not leave it until the difficulty between the 
North and the South was settled. 

" I shall never," he said, " come to Washington 
until I come by the way of Richmond." Before he 
left the army after the war was at an end his soldiers 
proved by the following resolution that they ap- 
preciated his patriotism and loyalty to them : 

''Resolved, That General Hayes, in addition to 
possessing the ability and statesmanship necessary to 
qualify him in an eminent degree for Chief Magistrate 
of the great State of Ohio, is a soldier unsurpassed 
for patriotism and bravery; he having served four 
years in the army, earning his promotion from Major 
in one of the Ohio regiments to his present position," 

This resolution was passed with the hope that their 
general might be elected Governor of Ohio. 

When he took his seat in the House of Repre- 
sentatives he became an energetic worker, but was no 
speech-maker, and, although his voice was seldom 
heard, and never in an important speech, his Ohio 
friends retained every confidence in him and re- 
nominated him in 1866. It was in this year that he 
was to come prominently before the nation as a strong 
speaker and an able politician. It was a critical 
time, a time of reconstruction, when it needed wise 
men, — in Congress particularly so, as one lacking 
wisdom was filling the President's chair. 

A speech delivered by him in Cincinnati during 
the campaign of 1866, gives his attitude towards the 
South with fullness and strength: — 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



267 



" How ought the nation to deal with the people of 
the States lately in rebellion ? ~No scheme of recon- 
struction will be found in its practical working to be 
humane and just and wise, unless it is planned with 
particular reference to the different elements of the 
population of which those States are composed. 
That population consists of disloyal white people, 
loyal white people, and loyal coloured people. In 
the South, there is a class, or caste, which by its 
wealth, intelligence, and social consideration, forms 
the opinion and controls the political action of the 
masses of the people, to an extent greater than is 
seen in any other part of the United States. We 
therefore naturally divide disloyal white people into 
leaders and their followers, the masses of the people. 
The masses consist of ignorant and unthinking, but 
well-meaning people, and also of a class which is 
very large in all the slave States : I mean the ruffian 
class, the men who, in slave-holding communities, 
have been brutalised by the occupation which slavery 
made necessary, — the slave traders, the keepers of 
slave pens, the slave drivers, and slave catchers, the 
men who have been educated in violence and cruelty 
to human beings of both sexes and of all ages. From 
the hostility of this class, which has lost its occupa- 
tion, by the freedom of the slave, the loyal people 
of the South need special and powerful protection. 

" There are now only two plans of reconstruction 
before the country, — the plan of those who supported 
the war measures of Mr. Lincoln's administration, 
which may be called the Union plan; and the plan 
which originated with those who opposed the war 
measures of Mr. Lincoln, and which may be called 
the Rebel plan. There was another plan before the 
country, which in some of its features was like the 



268 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Union plan, in others it resembled the Rebel plan, 
and it had some provisions peculiar to itself. 

" This plan, which may properly be called the 
Administration plan, never had many supporters out- 
side of the influence of Executive patronage, and has 
now been, as I shall hereafter show, for all practical 
purposes, abandoned 

" After the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the task 
of continuing the work of restoring civil government 
in the rebellious States devolved upon President 
Johnson. He undertook the work of re-organising 

in seven States the first was North Carolina, 

an old Whig State. Its population and politicians 
— extremely conservative, opposed strongly to nulli- 
fication in the days of Calhoun — were carried away 
by what General Grant calls ' the foolish notion of 
State-rights. ' A decided majority of the people hos- 
tile to rebellion at the beginning, and having a consid- 
erable number of able and intelligent men, remained 
steadfast in their fidelity to the Union throughout 
the whole war. With all these advantages for the re- 
establishment of a State government on a loyal basis, 
the result is that North Carolina has a rebel gover- 
nor, a rebel legislature, a rebel judiciary, and has 
chosen an unbroken delegation of rebel senators and 
rebel representatives to the Congress of the United 
States. I need not name the other six States. It 
is enough to say, that, with two or three unimportant 
exceptions, the history, in all its details, of North 
Carolina in this matter may be read as the history 
of each of the other States which President Johnson 
undertook to re-organise. All of them have chosen 
for governors men who were leading rebels; and 
rebels fill their legislative and judicial offices. 
Twelve of the fourteen United States senators chosen 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



269 



by the rebel States are leading rebels, and the men 
chosen to represent them in the House of Representa- 
tives stand, — rebels, 22; men of supposed loyalty, 
2 ; and four yet to be chosen from Texas, all of whom 
are likely to be rebels. The restoration of two 
States begun by Mr. Lincoln was continued by Presi- 
dent Johnson, — Louisiana and Virginia. Under Mr. 
Lincoln they had loyal legislatures and loyal men 
elected to Congress. Under the plan of President 
J ohnson, both States now have rebel legislatures and 
rebel congressional delegations." 

After continuing his severe criticism of President 
Johnson's plan of reconstruction, speaking of it as 
synonymous with the rebel plan he went on as follows: 

" Instead of this plan of dealing with the people 
of the rebellious States, the Union party presents 
a plan which also has the merit of being in perfect 
harmony with the opinions and history of that party 
during the whole war. We have already seen that 
the leading objects or desires with the Union party 
have been, 

" 1. The removal of every relic of slavery from 
the Federal Constitution and from the constitutions 
and laws of all the States. 

" 2. That loyalty should be respected and treason 
made odious. 

" 3. That the national obligations to the patri- 
otic people who furnish men and means to crush the 
rebellion should be faithfully fulfilled." 

In the following year in a speech at Sidney, Ohio, 
he again dealt at length with the all important mat- 
ter of reconstructing the Union. 

" We want reconstruction," he said, " upon such 
principles, and by means of such measures, that the 
causes which made reconstruction necessary shall not 



270 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



exist in the reconstructed Union. We want that 
foolish notion of State-rights, which teaches that the 
State is superior to the Nation, that there is a State 
sovereignty which commands the allegiance of every 
citizen, higher than the sovereignty of the nation, — 
we want that notion left out of the reconstructed 
Union. We want it understood, that whatever 
doubts may have existed prior to the war, as to the 
relation of the State to the National government, 
that now the National government is supreme, 
anything in the constitution or laws of any 
State to the contrary notwithstanding. Again: As 
one of the causes of the rebellion, we want slavery 
left out, not merely in name, but in fact forever. We 
want the last vestige, the last of that institution, 
rooted out of the laws and institutions of every State. 
We want that in the South there shall be no more 

suppression of free discussion For more than 

thirty years, fellow citizens, there has been no such 
thing as free discussion in the South. Those moder- 
ate speeches of Abraham Lincoln on the subject of 
slavery — not one of them could have been delivered 
without endangering his life south of Mason and 
Dixon's Line. We want in the reconstructed Union 
that there shall be the same freedom of the press and 
freedom of speech in the States of the South that 
there always has been in the States of the North. 
Again : We want a reconstructed Union upon such 
principles, that the men of the South who, during 
the war, were loyal and true to the President, shall 
be protected in life, liberty, and property, and in 
the exercise of their political rights." 

Every time he touched upon the matter of recon- 
struction he had nothing but words of severest cen- 
sure for Andrew Johnson, and when the time came 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



271 



for him to vote in Congress on the impeachment of 
the President he unhesitatingly voted for his im- 
peachment. His opinion of President Johnson is 
very clearly stated in the following paragraph : 

" Make no such mistakes as that. Make no mis- 
takes which shall make glad the heart of the traitor 
who fills the White House. The truth is, that, in the 
presence of the great issue that is now before the 
country, every man is under a solemn duty, to see, 
if possible, that he makes no mistakes. Andrew 
Johnson is prepared, if he believes the country sus- 
tains him, to make war upon the loyal Congress. On 
the other hand, if he thinks the country will not sus- 
tain him, we have confidence that he lacks those 
qualities which will enable him to make war where 
there is no prospect of success. It becomes the duty, 
then, of every Union man to see that he introduces 
no new issue into the Union party ; that he does noth- 
ing to distract it ; that he does nothing to create dis- 
cord, but everything to strengthen and unite the 
party upon which depends the safety, the interest, 
and the glory of the country." 

His attitude towards reconstruction and his cen- 
sures on the President were evidently appreciated by 
the Republican party in Ohio, for at the Convention 
which met at Columbus, June 10, 1867, he was 
selected as its candidate for governor. One of the 
great issues during this campaign was the negro suf- 
frage. There was a strong opposition in Ohio to 
granting the negroes the suffrage, and it required a 
particularly popular man to win in the face of this 
opposition. However, he took his stand firmly in 
favour of the negro suffrage. 

" It gives/' he said, " the right of suffrage to all 
the negroes of Ohio. Mark the phrase, I have not 



272 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



said impartial suffrage or manhood suffrage. I wish 
to be understood. It gives the suffrage to the 
negroes of Ohio upon the same terms that it is given 
to white men. The reason I am in favour of that is 
because it is right." 

General Hayes made a most vigorous campaign, 
delivering in all over eighty speeches. He was 
elected by about three hundred of a majority, but in 
both Houses of the State Legislature there was a 
Democratic majority. In 1869, he was again nom- 
inated for the governorship of the State and was again 
elected. His speeches during this campaign on the 
internal affairs of Ohio were masterly efforts. As a 
governor he won the esteem of both parties. His 
record was a clean one and he was unceasing in his 
efforts for reform. In 1872 he was a candidate for 
Congress, but the Democratic influence against him 
was too great and he was defeated. 

In the following year he took up his abode at Fre- 
mont, intending never again to enter public life. He 
was now a wealthy man and hoped to spend the 
balance of his days in the quiet retirement of this 
peaceful town. He could not, however, shape his 
own life ; forces were at work that were to compel 
him to take an active interest in the making of his 
country's history. 

The Democrats were getting an ever firmer hold 
on Ohio, and the Republicans to win the State in 
1875 urged General Hayes to once more allow him- 
self to stand for the governorship. President Grant 
had shortly before this offered him the position of 
Assistant-Treasurer of the United States at Cincin- 
nati, but he had refused it. Now, however, the call 
was so urgent and the issue so important that he could 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



2?3 



not refrain from once more entering the political 
arena. 

The great issue in this campaign was irre- 
deemable paper money, and the governorship was 
fought out along the lines of Federal rather than 
State politics. The platform of the Democrats was : 
" Gold and silver, when used as money, are redeem- 
able in any property there is for sale in the nation, 
will pay taxes for any debt, public or private. This 
alone gives them their money value. If you had a 
hundred gold eagles, and you could not exchange 
them for the necessaries of life, they would be trash, 
and you would be glad to exchange them for green- 
backs, or anything else that you could use to purchase 
what you require. With an absolute paper money 
stamped by the government, and made a legal tender 
for all purposes, and its functions as money are as 
perfect as gold or silver can be." 

This financial scheme of the Democratic party was 
vigorously combated by General Hayes. He pointed 
out that irredeemable paper money promoted specula- 
tion and extravagance and discouraged legitimate 
business, honest labour, and economy. 

" It stimulates," he said, "the desire to incur debt ; 
it causes high rates of interest ; it increases importa- 
tions from abroad; it has no fixed value; it is liable 
to frequent and great fluctuations, thereby rendering 
every pecuniary engagement precarious, and disturb- 
ing all existing contracts and expectations ; it is the 
parent of panic ; every period of inflation is followed 
by a loss of confidence, a shrinkage of values, de- 
pression of business, panics, lack of employment, and 
widespread disaster and distress ; the heaviest part of 
the calamity falls on those least able to bear it. The 
wholesale dealer, the middleman and the retailer, 
18 



274 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



always endeavour to cover the risks of the fickle 
standard of value by raising their prices; but the 
man of small means, and the labourer, are thrown 
out of employment, and want and suffering are liable 
soon to follow." 

He further pointed out that under an irredeemable 
paper money the wildest enterprises were under- 
taken, and in the end there was bankruptcy and ruin. 
It would be impossible to regulate the issue of such 
money so as to prevent the evils he foresaw. There 
was as he said " no man, no government, no Congress 
wise enough and pure enough to be trusted with the 
tremendous power over the business and property and 
labour of the country. That which concerns so inti- 
mately all business should be decided, if possible, on 
business principles, and not be left to depend on 
the exigencies of politics, the interests of party, or 
the ambition of public men." 

Along with this matter of currency there was an- 
other great question agitating the minds of the Ohio 
electors at this time, — the question of free schools. 
General Hayes was strongly in favour of free and 
unsectarian schools. He accepted the resolution re- 
ported by the committee on resolutions at the Republi- 
can State Convention : 

" That we are in favour of free, impartial, and un- 
sectarian education to every child in the States, and 
that any division of the school fund or appropriation 
of any part thereof to any religious or private schools, 
would be injurious to education and the best interests 
of the church." 

He took for his motto in this fight " Honest money 
for all, and free schools for all," and on this stand 
he was elected governor for two years. 

His campaign was more far reaching than merely 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



275 



winning him his State; the eyes of the Union were 
on him. The fight in Ohio for honest money had 
attracted the attention of the entire country and 
Governor Hayes by the strong way in which he 
handled this question became a National figure. His 
party in Ohio were not slow to recognise this and 
among themselves he was talked about as the next 
candidate for the Presidency. He, however, smiled 
at such suggestions, and never for a moment looked 
towards the White House. 



276 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PRESIDENT RUTHERFOUD B. HAYES (Concluded), 

When the Republican Convention of Ohio met in 
March 1876, the name of Governor Hayes was 
recommended as the candidate of the party for the 
Presidency and preparations were made to bring his 
name prominently before the National Republican 
Convention which was called to meet at Cincinnati on 
June 14. On June 15, General Noyes of Ohio, pre- 
sented the name of Governor Hayes to the Conven- 
tion. It was not, however, at first received with 
much enthusiasm. There were a number of other 
very strong candidates in the field — James G. Blaine, 
Oliver P. Morton, Benjamin H. Bristow, Roscoe 
Conkling, and John F. Hartranft. Among so many 
conflicting forces it was a difficult matter for the con- 
vention to come to a decision. James G. Blaine, 
despite the attempt that had so lately been made 
to slander his name, was immensely the strongest can- 
didate, and on the first ballot had 285 to Hayes' 61. 
But as the balloting proceeded the delegates support- 
ing the other candidates, seeing they could not win 
themselves, determined to defeat Blaine, and on the 
seventh ballot Hayes received 384 votes and on mo- 
tion of William P. Frye the nomination was made 
unanimous. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



277 



The party had considerable confidence in him. 
His record was a clean one, he had been a distin- 
guished soldier, his principles were sound, and his 
policy was known to the country through his letter 
accepting the nomination for the Presidency. He 
was determined to have genuine civil service re- 
form. Since the days of Andrew Jackson patronage 
had been the curse of the country. " To the victors 
belong the spoils " was the cry after every election. 
He was determined that the civil service should be 
reformed thoroughly and radically. He realised 
that in order to make the reforms his country needed 
he must make it evident to all that he was seeking for 
no second term. He was undertaking the struggle 
with his eyes open. He could not but make bitter 
enemies if he were to carry out the principles he laid 
down in his letter of acceptance. " Believing," he 
said, " that the restoration of the civil service to the 
system established by Washington, and followed by 
the early presidents, can best be accomplished by an 
Executive, who is under no temptation to use the 
patronage of his office to promote his own re-election, 
I desire to perform what I regard as a duty, in stat- 
ing now my inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be a 
candidate for election to a second term." He like- 
wise stated his opposition towards an irredeemable 
paper currency in very much the same language as he 
had done in his campaign for governor. He like- 
wise expressed himself most strongly with regard to 
the South and showed a desire to bring about a per- 
manent peace in that part of his country which was 
still suffering from the Civil war. 

In the campaign for the Presidency he was opposed 
by Samuel J. Tilden of ISTew York, and after a hard 
campaign the election ended most unsatisfactorily. 



278 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Tilden had a large popular vote in his favour, but 
both sides claimed an electoral majority. The dif- 
ficulty which arose at this time is very clearly stated 
in Bryce's The American Commonwealth. 

" In 1876," writes that distinguished historian, 
" Mr. Hayes was the Republican candidate for the 
presidency, Mr. Tilden the Democratic. The former 
carried his list of electors in seventeen States, whose 
aggregate electors numbered 163, and the latter 
carried his list also in seventeen States whose aggre- 
gate electors numbered 184. (As the total number 
of electors was 369, 184 was within one of being a 
half of that number). Four States remained out of 
the total thirty-eight and in each of these four two 
sets of persons had been chosen by popular vote, each 
set claiming, on grounds too complicated to be here 
explained, to be the duly chosen electors from those 
States respectively. The electoral votes of these four 
States amounted to 22, so that if in any one of them 
the Democratic set of electors had been found to 
have been duly chosen, the Democratic would have 
secured a majority of electoral votes, whereas even 
if in all of them Republican electors had been 
chosen, the Republican electors would have had a 
majority of one only." 

The Republicans claimed all these doubtful States, 
accusing the Democrats of intimidating voters and 
tampering with ballot boxes. The situation was a 
very critical one ; the Senate was at the time Republi- 
can and the House Democratic, and it looked for a 
moment as if the country was on the verge of a 
political war. However, good sense prevailed and an 
electoral commission of fifteen members, three 
Republican and two Democratic senators, three 
Democratic and two Republican representatives, and 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



279 



five justices of the Supreme Court, two of whom 
should be Republican, and two Democratic, was ap- 
pointed. These fourteen members were to select the 
fifteenth, another judge. It was the intention to 
select Judge Davis of Illinois, but while the crisis 
was impending he resigned from the Supreme Bench 
and was elected to the Senate and Justice Bradley a 
Republican was chosen. The disputed points were 
settled by a party vote, eight to seven, in favour of 
the Republican returns. It was not until the 2nd 
of March that the count was completed, and Mr. 
Hayes found himself President of the United States 
by a majority of 1. Through this struggle Mr. Til- 
den behaved in a most honourable manner. He 
believed himself rightfully elected, as did a very large 
portion of the electors, and had he but taken his 
stand against the decision of the commission, another 
war might have been precipitated. 

President Hayes was inaugurated on March 5, and 
in his inaugural address once more emphasised his 
position on the questions that had called him to the 
Presidential office. His desire was to see permanent 
peace in the country and to bring back the Southern 
States, not by force, but by love. He recognised 
the difficulties in the way, but he believed that 
the time was not far distant when k< the tremendous 
revolution " which had passed over them would be 
recognised as a blessing. The difficulty, he saw, was 
the race difficulty, and the evils which afflicted the 
South could, he believed, be remedied only by the 
united and harmonious efforts of both races. It is 
now twenty-five years since his inaugural address was 
delivered, and yet so bitter is the race feeling that 
the whole South was horrified a short time ago when 



280 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



President Roosevelt invited to dinner at the White 
House an intelligent and cultured negro. 

In his inaugural address, too, he was most em- 
phatic on the matter of civil service reform. There 
should no longer be partisan service, he would have 
things revert to the principles and practices of the 
founders of the government. Public officers should 
give their whole service to the government and to 
the people; they should be secure in their tenure of 
office as long as their personal character remained 
untarnished and they satisfactorily performed their 
duties. 

He likewise dealt with the matter of irredeemable 
paper currency and maintained that " the only safe 
paper currency is one which rests upon a coin basis 
and is at all times and promptly convertible into 
coin." Another important matter that he dealt with 
was the question of international arbitration. He 
hoped that in the case of any difference arising 
between the United States and any foreign govern- 
ment that the difficulty would be settled in a peaceful 
and honourable way. 

As his inaugural address is read it will be seen that 
in the twenty-five years that have passed since he 
uttered it, there has been comparatively little change 
in the Republican party. The noble address de- 
livered by President McKinley on the day before his 
death is in almost every particular at one with the 
inaugural address of President Hayes. 

The following men were selected by the President 
to assist him in the government of the country: 
William M. Evarts, Secretary of State; John Sher- 
man, Secretary of the Treasury; George W. Mc- 
Crary, Secretary of War; Richard W. Thompson, 
Secretary of the ]STavy; David M. Key, Postmaster- 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



281 



General ; Charles Devens, Attorney-General ; and 
Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior. 

As soon as President Hayes was installed in office 
he at once began to carry out the pledges he had 
made to the people of the United States. He had 
expressed the determination to endeavour to bring 
about an abiding peace with the secession States. 
The feeling in these States was still very bitter, as 
was to be expected, against the North, and the 
Federal government had found it necessary in order 
to keep peace to have troops stationed in the South. 
The President realised that so long as the troops re- 
mained there, keeping the inhabitants faithful to the 
Union by force of arms, it would be impossible for 
the Southerners to forget the past. He had come to 
power at a time when, due to the election difficulty, 
the armed force seemed all the more needed in the 
State houses of South Carolina and Louisiana, but he 
determined to trust the Southern States to make 
them realise that they were once more self-governing 
bodies, integral parts of the Union. He therefore 
determined to withdraw the troops and in the month 
after his inauguration, having been assured that 
peace and good will would be maintained in these 
States, he ordered the withdrawal of the Federal 
troops. This was an exceedingly wise course and 
was much appreciated by the best thinking people 
in the North, and did much to allay the bitter feel- 
ing in the South. However, there was a party in 
the country which was opposed to this course and 
which said many bitter things against the President. 
The politicians felt that by withdrawing the armed 
force from the Southern States they were to some ex- 
tent losing control of that part of their country. 

The President at once gave his attention to the 



282 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



matter of civil service reform. Three months 
after his inauguration, on June 22, he issued an 
order : " That no officer should be required or per- 
mitted to take part in the management of political 
organisations, caucuses, conventions, or election 
campaigns. Their right to vote or to express their 
views on public questions, either orally or through 
the press, is not denied, provided it does not interfere 
with the discharge of their official duties. No assess- 
ment for political purposes on officers or subordi- 
nates, should be allowed. This rule is applicable to 
every department of the Civil Service. It should be 
understood by every officer of the general government 
that he is expected to conform his conduct to its re- 
quirements." 

This was an exceedingly courageous order. The 
Republican party had been using public offices for 
the purpose of keeping itself in power. Some of the 
ablest men in the party were in this respect the most 
corrupt. It was one thing to issue such an order; 
it was another thing to put it in force. The Presi- 
dent was soon to be tested. Chester A. Arthur and 
Alonzo B. Cornell, two of the ablest and most partisan 
Republicans, although not guilty of what could be 
called corrupt practices, were guilty, in the face of 
the President's orders, of using their positions for 
partisan ends, and when the matter was brought to 
the attention of the President he unhesitatingly 
suspended them and nominated men of his own choice 
for the offices of Collector of Customs of the Port of 
New York and of Naval Officer. In taking this step 
he gave the following reasons: 

" For a long period of time it (the New York 
custom house) has been used to manage and control 
political affairs. The officers suspended by me are, 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



283 



and for several years have been, engaged in the active 
personal management of the party politics of the city 
and State of New York. The duties of the offices 
held by them have been regarded as of subordinate 
importance to their partisan work. Their offices 
have been conducted as part of the political 
machinery under their control. They have made the 
custom house the centre of partisan political manage- 
ment. " 

He was to be tried in another direction. In the 
first months of his administration the railroad em- 
ployees became very much dissatisfied with the treat- 
ment they received from several of the extensive 
railroad corporations, and strikes extended over large 
sections of the country. Riots were common and 
severe conflicts took place between the State troops 
and the mob. The President, in July, found it nec- 
essary to send Federal troops to the scene of the riot- 
ing, and these troops had the effect of restoring order. 

His first year as President closed well, and when 
he prepared his annual message in December he was 
able to speak glowingly on affairs in the country, 
and particularly on the satisfactory turn things had 
taken in the South. " All apprehension of danger," 
he said, " from remitting those States to local self- 
government is dispelled, and a most salutary change 
in the minds of the people has begun and is in prog- 
ress in every part of that section of the country once 
the theatre of unhappy civil strife; substituting for 
suspicion, distrust, and aversion, concord, friendship, 
and patriotic attachment to the Union. ISTo unpreju- 
diced mind will deny that the terrible and often fatal 
collisions which for several years have been of 
frequent occurrence, and have agitated and alarmed 
the public mind, have almost entirely ceased, and that 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



a spirit of mutual forbearance and hearty national 
interest has succeeded. There has been a general 
re-establishment of order, and of the orderly adminis- 
tration of justice; instances of remaining lawlessness 
have become of rare occurrence ; political turmoil and 
turbulence have disappeared: useful industries have 
been resumed: public credit in the Southern States 
lias been greatly strengthened and the encouraging 
benefit of a revival of commerce between the sections 
of country lately embroiled in civil war are fully 
enjoyed." 

In this same message he once more took a strong 
stand against an irredeemable paper currency and 
against the unlimited coinage of silver. 

With regard to the matter of currency he was at 
this time a mighty force for good. The House and 
the Senate were both in favour of a silver basis, and 
a silver bill which was much opposed to the Presi- 
dent's recommendations passed both Houses. He 
very promptly vetoed this bill, declaring that " as 
to all debts heretofore contracted, the silver dollar 
?hall be made a legal tender only at its market value. 
The standard of value should nut be changed with- 
out the consent of both parties to the contract. Na- 
tional promises should be kept with unflinching 
fidelity. There is no power to compel a nation to 
pay its just debts. Its credit depends on its honour. 
A nation owes what it has led or allowed its credit- 
ors to expect. I cannot approve a bill which in my 
judgment authorises the violation of sacred obli- 
gations." 

A number of other questions affecting the internal 
affairs of his country received the attention of the 
President. He put forth strong efforts to civilise the 
Indians ; he made an endeavour to preserve the vast 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



285 



forests of his country which were in many cases being 
recklessly destroyed ; and he advocated strenuous laws 
against the practice of polygamy in Utah. Another 
matter which attracted his attention was the prohibit- 
ing of military interference at elections. Congress 
passed an act to this effect ; but the President vetoed 
it. He believed that " the elections should be free 
from forcible interference," and that " no soldiery 
either of the United States or of the State militia 
should be present at the polls to perform the duties 
of the ordinary civil police force," but at the same 
time he maintained that " there should be no denial 
of the right of the National government to employ its 
military force on any day and at any place in case 
such employment is necessary to enforce the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States." 

During his term as President no great inter- 
national questions stirred the country; however, 
several minor questions came up and from the able 
way the President handled them there is no doubt 
but that he would have been a wise President at a 
time of great crisis. The first foreign question that 
came before his notice was through a bill which Con- 
gress passed to restrict the immigration of Chinese 
to the United States. The President vetoed this bill ; 
he had no doubt that there were evils due to the un- 
restricted immigration of the Chinese, but it would 
not do for his country to override existing treaties, 
even with what was considered a weak power, with- 
out giving due notice to that power. On this ques- 
tion he rose to the dignity of his office and showed 
himself an excellent diplomat. Pie declared that 
the " abrogation of a treaty by one of the contracting 
parties is justifiable only upon reasons both of the 
highest justice and of the highest necessity." To 



286 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



abrogate a treaty due notice should be given, the 
day should be fixed in advance and, in this case, 
China ought to have been given an opportunity of 
speaking. The bill which had passed Congress 
he believed, " would be regarded by the enlightened 
judgment of mankind as the denial of the obligation 
of the National faith." 

The only other matter of international importance 
which came before his attention was the Panama 
Canal project, and on this matter he adhered to the 
National attitude of " American control." His posi- 
tion was that which has been definitely arrived at by 
the two great nations concerned, England and the 
United States, in the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. 
" The United States," he said, " cannot consent to the 
surrender of this control to any European Power or 
to any combination of European Powers. If ex- 
isting treaties between the United States and other 
nations, or if the rights of sovereignty or property 
of other nations, stand in the way of this policy — a 
contingency which is not apprehended — suitable 
steps should be taken by just and liberal negotia- 
tions to promote and establish the American policy 
on this subject, consistently with the rights of the 
nations to be affected by it. An inter-oceanic canal 
across the American isthmus will be the great ocean 
thoroughfare between our Atlantic and our Pacific 
shores and virtually a part of the coast line of the 
United States. E~o other great Power would, under 
similar circumstances, fail to assert a rightful control 
over a work so closely and vitally affecting its in- 
terests and welfare." 

In his last annual message to Congress, December 
6, 1880, President Hayes emphasised the positions he 
had taken in his inaugural address four years pre- 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



287 



viously. He had changed in no way during his term 
of office; he had taken no step backward, but was 
still ardent for peace within the Union, for right- 
eous government, for sound money, and for maintain- 
ing a dignified and honourable position in inter- 
national affairs. 

No other President who had occupied the White 
House had been more vigorously attacked by his 
enemies than had Hayes. At the same time he was 
not in favour with a large section of the Republi- 
can party. His civil service reform made him many 
enemies and there was no thought of urging upon 
him the necessity of standing for a second term. 
However, much good had been done during his term 
of office. He had taken up the reins of government 
at a time when there was great depression in busi- 
ness, and when he retired from the government to his 
Fremont home after the inauguration of his suc- 
cessor there was a general revival in trade and com- 
merce that augured well for the future. 

In the early seventies General Hayes had had a 
desire to live in retirement, free from the busy world 
of men and politics. He had now an opportunity 
to realise this desire and until January 17, 1893, he 
lived quietly in his Ohio home. He could not, how- 
ever, be idle, and the closing years of his life were 
spent in noble philanthropic work. He was not with- 
out reward ; Harvard University, Yale College 
Johns Hopkins University, and Kenyon College all 
honoured him with the degree of LL. D. Other hon- 
ours were bestowed upon him, but what he valued 
most was a realisation towards the end of his life, 
that the men who had reviled him for the course he 
had pursued during his presidential career were 



288 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



gradually beginning to acknowledge that he had ever 
acted for the right. 

While he was not a man of great intellectual force, 
he was in many ways one of the strongest presidents 
of the latter half of the century, — one quite capable 
of grappling with the most serious crisis that might 
have arisen. He was unbending without being stub- 
born, and it would have been as easy for the politi- 
cians to have made a tool of Abraham Lincoln as of 
Rutherford Birchard Hayes. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



289 



CHAPTER XVII. 

president james a. garfield. 

(One Administration, 1881 — .) 

Nothing could be more uncertain than a Presiden- 
tial nomination. It has been shown on several pre- 
vious occasions that the most unlikely prominent poli- 
tician in the country was the one chosen to lead his 
party to victory. This was peculiarly the case at the 
convention which met in Chicago in 1880, and which 
selected James A. Garfield to be the standard bearer 
of the great Republican party. He was a compara- 
tively unknown man, having gone to the convention 
an ardent supporter of John Sherman, and to his 
own surprise and the surprise of the nation was 
selected over General Grant, James G. Blaine, and 
others. 

General Garfield was born in Orange, Cayuga 
County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. His father, 
Abraham Garfield, was, however, an Easterner, a 
native of New York State, but one whose ancestors 
were originally of the Puritan stock of Massachu- 
setts. His mother, Eliza Ballon was born in New 
Hampshire. She was a descendant of the Huguenots 
and her family had fled from France to New England 
to escape persecution in their native land. It will be 
19 



29U PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



seen from this that Garfield both on his father's and 
his mother's side was descended from a religious and 
liberty-loving race. In fact, he took great pride in 
his ancestry, and delighted in referring to the great 
struggles for liberty in which they like himself had 
prominently figured. 

Abraham Garfield moved to Ohio in 1830. He 
settled in a district known as " The Wilderness," and 
began to make a home for himself and his family in 
the heart of the forest. He had, however, but a short 
time to live and at the early age of thirty-three died, 
leaving a wife and four children. Of these James 
was the youngest, a mere infant. His mother had 
now a hard struggle with poverty, but she seems to 
have been able to give her children a fairly good 
education. It is said that James was sent to school 
at the age of three, and that he was able to read at 
that very early age. Whether this is true or not, he 
was certainly a precocious child and ever ready to 
devour any book that fell into his hands. He was an 
omniverous reader, and in boyhood acquired a habit 
of reading that only ended with his life. He, how- 
ever, was forced to help on the farm and to work for 
farm neighbours in order to aid his mother in her 
struggle for existence. There were but few books 
in " The Wilderness," and, like many other men who 
have achieved power as writers and speakers and 
politicians, the book with which he was most famil- 
iar in his youth was the Bible. His imagination was 
kindled as a boy by Grimshaw's Life of Napoleon 
and by a volume of tales of the sea. He was an 
inland lad but the blood of his ancestors was still in 
his veins and he longed for something of the thril- 
ling experiences that he read about in books dealing 
with the mighty deep. It was a long way to the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



291 



ocean, but not so far to the Great Lakes, and so he 
journeyed in 1848 to Cleveland with the intention 
of shipping on one of the lake boats. 

But the freight-carriers of the lakes differed from 
the lordly ships that were in his imagination and he 
turned from the reality in disgust. It would not do, 
however, to go back to his Ohio home without having 
made an effort to do something for himself and so 
he procured employment on the Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania Canal, driving the slow-gaited mules that towed 
the heavy barges through the country. He was soon 
promoted from the tow-path to the barge deck, but if 
all stories of this period of his life are true, he 
was far from being an efficient deck-hand. It seems 
that while at this work he fell into the canal no fewer 
than fourteen times. On the last occasion he had 
such a narrow escape from ending his career that he 
concluded he was never intended to be a bargeman, 
but that it was foreordained that he should occupy 
a higher station in life, and so he turned his face 
homeward. He was still desirous of acquiring an 
education and in the following winter attended a 
school at Chester about ten miles from his home. 
His mother was able to contribute but little towards 
his education and so in his vacation he worked at the 
trade of a carpenter which he had acquired, helped in 
the harvest field, taught school, — did anything with 
which to gain money to pay for schooling in the 
winter. 

While in Chester he met a sweet country girl, Miss 
Lucretia Kudolph, who was afterwards to be his part- 
ner in the White House. At this time of his life he 
seems to have developed profoundly the religious side 
of his nature. He was converted under the instruc- 
tion of a Campbellite preacher, was baptized and 



292 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



became a Campbellite. " The Disciples of Christ," 
although in a sense narrow in their beliefs were not 
without their attractions for a man of Garfield's 
Puritan ancestry and liberty-loving nature. Their 
aim was, according to themselves, to direct their 
lives by the Scriptures, not bound by any hard and 
fast canons or creeds but allowing each member to 
interpret the Scriptures not after the manner of 
churchmen but according to their simple and natural 
meaning. 

He finished his studies at Chester in 1851 and then 
entered Hiram College, the principal seat of learn- 
ing of " The Disciples " in Ohio. He was here a 
faithful, painstaking student, but not as remarkable 
in his classes as he was in the prayer-meetings and 
debating societies. He lived frugally and managed 
not only to make his expenses, but even to save a 
little money while in this institution. After three 
years' residence at Hiram College he felt himself 
ready to enter any of the celebrated Eastern seats 
of learning. His thoughts were naturally directed 
towards Bethany College in West Virginia. It was 
the College of the " Disciples of Christ." The bril- 
liant leader of his sect was at the head of it; but to 
the liberty-loving Ohio boy it was not all that could 
be desired. At this time the question of slavery was 
beginning to agitate the nation, and in this religious 
institution as in almost every religious institution 
in the South, pro-slavery opinions were in vogue. 
Besides, young Garfield, through his wide reading 
and his close application to some of the more modern 
thinkers, felt the need of coming into contact with 
broader-minded men than he was likely to find in 
Bethany College. He therefore made up his mind 
to enter Williams College, which was presided over 



James a. Garfield. 



293 



at that time by Mark Hopkins. He hoped by thus 
studying with men of another faith than his own that 
his sympathies would be broadened and his view of 
life enlarged. 

At this institution he showed his usual dili- 
gence and graduated in 1856 with the highest 
honours, held in the greatest esteem by all from 
the president downwards. On graduating he re- 
turned to Ohio and obtained a position as teacher 
of Latin and Greek at his old school, Hiram College. 
His noble religious character, ripe scholarship and 
fine disciplinarian powers attracted the attention of 
the authorities and in 1857 he was made President of 
the college, when only twenty-six years old. He was 
an able educator in the best sense of the word, enter- 
ing sympathetically into the lives of his students, and 
while doing much to give them accurate learning 
did more to mould them as men. He was still a faith- 
ful " Disciple " and while President of Hiram Col- 
lege frequently preached. But his ambition was in 
neither the line of preaching or teaching. He had 
broader hopes, and like Lincoln saw that the road to 
distinction in his country lay through the channel 
of the law. He had his name entered in a law office 
in Cleveland but did his studying in Hiram. 

During the Kansas-Nebraska debates his youthful 
and ardent nature was intensely roused by the evils 
of slavery and in discussions which occurred on this 
great question he spoke on several occasions with a 
power and knowledge that attracted a good deal of 
attention. It brought him prominently before the 
electors, and in 1859, without soliciting it, he was sent 
to represent the counties of Summit and Portage in 
the Senate of Ohio. He took a lively interest in the 
affairs of his State, earnestly working whenever 



294 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



occasion demanded it. He felt that war was at hand, 
the air was heavy with it ; and like a wise citizen he 
began to prepare himself for the inevitable struggle. 
He read much on military affairs, and thought a good 
deal more; and when the war cloud broke after the 
election of Lincoln he was not unprepared to enter 
the struggle. 

In August, 1861, he was appointed by Governor 
William Dennison, Lieut-Colonel in the 42nd Regi- 
ment of Ohio Volunteers. He had a fine set of men 
under him, many of them his old pupils at Hiram 
College, all of whom had perfect confidence in their 
old teacher and showed great readiness to enlist in his 
regiment. His teacher's methods stood by him in this 
critical occasion of his life, and he went systematic- 
ally to work to drill his men and instruct them in mili- 
tary tactics. As a result there were few more effi- 
cient volunteers towards the end of 1861 than Gar- 
field's Ohio regiment. In December of that year he 
reported to General Buell in Louisville, Kentucky, 
and the General, in a time when soldiers were remark- 
able for their ignorance of military affairs, was much 
impressed with the 42nd. He showed his apprecia- 
tion of the work Garfield had done with this regi- 
ment by giving him command of a brigade and assign- 
ing him the difficult task of driving the Confederate 
General Humphrey Marshall from Eastern Ken- 
tucky. 

Marshall was a man of considerable military ex- 
perience, a man trained at West Point and thoroughly 
familiar with military affairs. He had under him, 
too, five thousand men, while Garfield had barely 
two thousand. But Garfield had brains and laid his 
plans with the greatest judgment. He at last forced 
Marshall to abandon a strong position he had taken 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



295 



up, leaving large quantities of supplies behind him. 
He went in hot pursuit of the Confederate general, 
and with but eleven hundred men overtook him with 
five thousand men supported by twelve cannon. 
Capture Marshall he could not with his small force, 
but he held him in check until reinforced by Generals 
Granger and Sheldon. At Middle Creek, January 
10, 1862, he gained a decisive victory over the Con- 
federate forces. 

This victory was a welcome one to the Federals; 
defeat had darkened their sky and it seemed as if the 
superior knowledge and experience of the Southern 
soldiers were likely to make the conflict a very trying 
one at least at the beginning. General Buell ac- 
knowledged the skill with which Garfield had out- 
generaled Marshall, and President Lincoln promptly 
made him a Brigadier-General dating his commis- 
sion from the battle of Middle Creek. 

During his campaign on the Big Sandy his sup- 
plies gave out and it looked as though his entire force 
would have to face starvation. But he was equal 
to the emergency, and went to the Ohio and seized 
a steamer loaded with provisions. The river was 
swollen, swift, and dangerous, and he could get no 
pilot to undertake to navigate the boat. He was not 
to be beaten, but taking the helm himself stood at his 
post for forty-eight hours. His canal boat experi- 
ence was after all not wasted. 

One of the most remarkable performances of his 
military career was his march on Cumberland Gap. 
Marshall was there in a strongly entrenched position ; 
a surprise was necessary : Garfield when he learned of 
the situation of Marshall was one hundred miles from 
Cumberland Gap, but in four days he hurried his 
soldiers across this distance in a blinding snow- 



296 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



storm. There are few better forced marches than 
this in the history of the war. 

He was to have still further war experiences. 
Kentucky cleared up, he hastened to Shiloh and 
arrived in time to take part in the second day's fight- 
ing, and likewise took part in all the operations in 
front of Corinth. He was more than a mere soldier: 
in June he found the bridges on the Memphis and 
Charleston Railroad broken down and repaired them 
showing a good deal of engineering skill. He did 
good work, too, as an engineer on the fortifications of 
Huntsville. But the war was telling on him, he had 
never saved himself, and from excessive work and 
exposure broke down in the summer of 1862. 

After recovery from a short illness he was em- 
ployed on the courts-martial at Washington and 
proved himself as wise as a judge as he was skilful 
as a soldier. In February of 1863 he returned to 
duty under General Rosecrans then in command of 
the army of the Cumberland. He was appointed 
chief-of-staff and played a notable part in the battle 
of Chickamauga, June 24, 1863. The right wing was 
defeated and the left under General George H. 
Thomas was in danger. It was necessary that Thomas 
should know the situation and Garfield, exposing him- 
self to a hot fire, rode to the rescue. This was a lost 
battle to the Federal troops ; but, for his gallant con- 
duct on the day of defeat, Garfield was promoted to 
the rank of major-general. It seemed as though he 
was to be one of the great generals of the war, but his 
brains were needed at Washington. He had been 
elected fifteen months before to Congress and at the 
urgent request of Lincoln sacrificed a bright military 
career to do the more difficult work of aiding in the 
councils of the nation at the seat of government. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



297 



His military career is referred to at some length 
in that magnificent oration on Garfield delivered in 
the Hall of the House of Representatives, February 
27, 1882, by his friend and admirer James G. Blaine, 
— a speech that every student of the life of Garfield 
should read in its entirety. 

" The result of the campaign is a matter of history. 
The skill, the endurance, the extraordinary energies 
shown by Garfield, the courage imparted to his men, 
raw and untried as himself, the measures he adopted 
to increase his force and to create in the enemy's 
mind exaggerated estimates of his numbers, bore 
perfect fruit in the routing of Marshall, the capture 
of his camp, the dispersion of his force, and the eman- 
cipation of an important territory from the control of 
the rebellion. Coming at the close of a long series of 
disasters to the Union arms, Garfield's victory had an 
unusual and extraneous importance, and in the popu- 
lar judgment elevated the young commander to the 
rank of a military hero." 

He was but thirty-two years old when he entered 
Congress, but from his experience in the Senate of 
Ohio, in the army, and through the intense interest 
he had taken in his country's life he was much older 
than his years. His work of preparation for his fu- 
ture exalted position went on. He was a good lis- 
tener and paid the closest attention to all matters re- 
lating to the army and frequently spoke to much pur- 
pose. At the same time he devoted a good deal of 
energy to the great questions that a statesman has of 
necessity to deal with, and financial problems and 
constitutional affairs occupied much of his time. He 
saw, too, how his country was reaching out, and, in 
order to be able to take part intelligently in interna- 
tional affairs, diligently studied both French and 



298 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



German. In 1865, at his own request, he was placed 
on the Ways and Means Committee. He was Chair- 
man of the Committee on Military Affairs in 1867, 
and in 1869 held a similar position on a committee 
on banking and currency. He thus gained a 
thorough knowledge of every department of the busi- 
ness life of his country, and was being peculiarly fit- 
ted to be a business president. In 1877 Mr. Blaine 
left the House for the Senate and Garfield who was 
at that time candidate for the Speakership, was the 
recognized leader of the Republican party in the 
House. 

'* There never yet was noble man but made ignoble 
talk," — especially if that man be a politician. Gar- 
field was accused of political corruption but on care- 
ful investigation he was found to be in no way per- 
sonally guilty. He had now been some six years in 
Congress and had attracted a great deal of attention 
by his political insight and capacity for work. In 
January, 1880, he was chosen Senator-elect from the 
State of Ohio. This new honour was to be very soon 
followed by a greater one. 

In June, 1880, the Republican Convention met in 
Chicago to nominate a successor to Rutherford B. 
Hayes. Garfield went to this convention in sympa- 
thy with the nomination of John Sherman. He was 
particularly anxious to defeat the friends of General 
Grant. Grant had not been a particularly brilliant 
President, and the fact that he was being nominated 
for a third term was contrary to the best political 
opinion in America. At this convention the two 
strong candidates were Grant and Blaine, Grant 
having 304 votes on the first ballot and Blaine 284. 
The tedious voting continued, these two men retain- 
ing the same relative positions until the thirty-fourth 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



299 



ballot. All this time some friend or enemy of Gar- 
field's kept dropping in a ballot for him, and so he 
continued until the thirty-third ballot to have in 
nearly every case one vote registered on his behalf. 
On the thirty-fourth ballot much to the surprise of 
every one he had seventeen votes. The Blaine men 
saw no hope of electing their candidate, they were 
determined to defeat General Grant and his hench- 
man Roscoe Conkling at any price, and east their 
votes almost in a body for Garfield. The Sherman 
votes went with them and on the thirty-sixth ballot 
Garfield had 399 votes and wa3 the choice of the 
Republican party. 

He was a comparatively unknown man and in 
order to introduce himself to the nation as a whole 
spoke in his own behalf in many of the leading centres 
of population. His opponent was General Hancock, 
but the Democratic leader was far from being a 
strong man and found a solid phalanx of votes against 
him in the [North. There was really in this cam- 
paign but one great issue. Grant it is true in allow- 
ing his name to be presented for a third term had ex- 
pressed a hope that he might be able to close the 
breach between the [North and the South, but this 
played only a small part in the struggle between Han- 
cock and Garfield. The tariff issue was the great 
question and Garfield by his superior education and 
long political training had a decided advantage in the 
canvass over General Hancock. He was elected by 
214 votes to 155, beating Hancock in every [Northern 
State excepting [New Jersey, [Nevada, and California. 

On March 4, 1881, he delivered his inaugural ad- 
dress and entered upon what promised to be a pros- 
perous voyage although the beginning of his presiden- 
tial career was not without its storms. 



300 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



He selected his cabinet from men of known ex- 
perience. They were as follows : James G. Blaine 
of Maine, Secretary of State; William Windom, of 
Minnesota, Secretary of the Treasury; Wayne Mac- 
Veagh, of Pennsylvania, Attorney-General; Thomas 
L. James, of New York, Postmaster-General; Sam- 
uel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa, Secretary of the Interior ; 
Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois, Secretary of War; 
William H. Hunt of Louisiana, Secretary of the 
Navy. 

The determined struggle of Conkling and his men 
to have Grant reappointed for a third term and their 
defeat at the Chicago Convention had left them with 
considerable bitterness in their hearts against the new 
administration. Garfield made appointments that 
did not please the Senators. At length he nominated 
William H. Robertson as Collector of the Port of 
New York. Robertson was a personal enemy of 
Conklinsfs and this appointment brought affairs to a 
climax. Conkling and his friends in New York 
stood on the " Courtesy of the Senate ;" Garfield, how- 
ever, would not be dictated to ; as a result Conkling 
and Senator Piatt resigned, hoping that by re-elec- 
tion they would give the President a decided snub, 
but Garfield won ; the people admiring a man of in- 
tegrity and backbone and one who could not be ruled 
by professional politicians. 

In the midst of the discussion over the appoint- 
ments the nation was to be suddenly plunged into 
deep grief. Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker, 
had his brain turned by the abuse hurled at Garfield 
by his enemies. He looked upon Garfield as a tyrant 
and determined to assassinate him to make way for 
Vice-President Arthur. 

On July 2, the President was taking a holiday 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



301 



from the worries of bis Washington life. On that 
day the commencement exercises were being held at 
his old college, and be was about to attend them with 
feelings known only to men who truly love their Alma 
Mater. As James Blaine said, " the President was a 
contented and happy man — not in an ordinary degree, 
but joyfully almost boyishly, happy. On his way to 
the railroad station, to which he drove slowly, in 
conscious enjoyment of the beautiful morning, with 
an unwonted sense of leisure and a keen anticipation 
of pleasure, his talk was all in the grateful and 
gratulatory vein. He felt, that, after four months of 
trial, his administration was strong in its grasp of 
affairs, strong in popular favour, and destined to 
grow stronger ; that grave difficulties confronting him 
at his inauguration had been safely passed; that 
troubles lay behind him, and not before him ; that he 
was soon to meet the wife whom he loved, now recov- 
ering from an illness which had but lately disquieted 
and at times almost unnerved him ; that he was going 
to his Alma Mater to renew the most cherished as- 
sociations of his young manhood, and to exchange 
greetings with those whose deepening interest had 
followed every step of his upward progress, from the 
day he entered upon his college course until he had 
attained the loftiest elevation in the gift of his coun- 
trymen.' ' 

At such a supreme moment of his life, just as he 
entered the Washington station with his Secretary 
of State, Mr. Blaine, he was attacked by Guiteau. 
The first shot missed, but the assassin again took 
deliberate aim and before either the President or 
his Secretary could realise what was taking place 
a ball penetrated his side. 

The true strength of the man was now shown. 



302 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



For nearly three months he was to battle with death, 
facing it in the end as bravely as ever man did. He 
sank steadily through the hot and trying weather of 
the summer, and in September it was felt that his 
only hope lay in having him moved to the seashore ; 
but it was of no avail, nothing could save him, and 
on the night of September 19 he passed away. The 
nation mourned him with a genuine mourning: his 
sad end ; his heroic struggle ; the nobility of his entire 
career had made of him a national hero, and he was 
almost as deeply mourned as was the saver of the 
Union, Abraham Lincoln. 

His cutting off was indeed sad. His career had 
been a bright and useful one, but it was in a sense 
only beginning. Already he was proving himself a 
great international diplomat and was making his 
power decidedly felt on the other side of the ocean. 
The building of the Panama Canal was already exci- 
ting the people of his country, and in this connection 
he was proving himself able and honest both in his 
interpretation of the Monroe doctrine and the Clay- 
ton-Bulwer Treaty. With regard to the canal he had 
very wisely said that " it was the right and duty of 
the United States to assert and maintain such super- 
vision and authority over any interoceanic canal 
across the isthmus that connects North and South 
America as will protect our national interests." 

But he had merely begun to initiate action ; he had 
achieved nothing, although he was promising to be as 
fine a president as the United States had during the 
century. He will always be judged by his career 
as a soldier and in Congress. The best work he did 
was in supporting Lincoln during the great Civil war. 
Of two things he never had any doubt, — the Union 
had to be maintained and the curse of slavery had to 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



303 



be abolished. He had been a brave soldier he was 
an equally wise and eloquent councillor. 

His speech on " The Conflict of Ideas in America" 
wa3 one of the strongest utterances called forth by the 
war. He said in .that noble effort, " Our War of In- 
dependence was a war of ideas, of ideas evolved out 
of two hundred years of slow and silent growth .... 
For nearly two centuries there was no serious collis- 
ion ; but when the continent began to fill up and the 
people began to jostle each other; when the Round- 
head and the Cavalier came near enough to measure 
opinions the irreconcilable character of the two doc- 
trines began to appear " (viz. : that private judgment 
in politics as well as religion is the right and duty of 
every man, and that capital should own labour, that 
the negro had no rights of manhood, and the white 
man might justly buy, own, and sell him and his off- 
spring forever) . Over this vast horizon of interest, 
North and South, above all party prejudices and per- 
sonal wrong doing, above our battle hosts and our 
victorious cause, above all that we hoped for and won, 
or you hoped for and lost, is the grand, onward move- 
ment of the Republic to perpetuate its glory, to save 
liberty alive, and preserve exact and equal justice to 
all, to protect and foster all these priceless prin- 
ciples, until they shall have crystallised into the form 
of enduring law, and become inwrought into the life 
and habits of our people." 

It was with such noble ideas as these that James 
A. Garfield entered upon his presidential career. 
His whole character was without inconsistency. A 
student of affairs, a man of noble religious character, 
cultured, and despite his log cabin origin, refined, — 
he promised to make not only a wise president but to 
give dignity to the office that it too often lacked. 



304 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



But it was not to be ; fate had decided otherwise, and 
in the moment of his success, and when he had as it 
were laid a base for a noble government, and had 
vanquished his viiifiers and opponents he was struck 
down. It is hard to think in viewing his assassina- 
tion that " God's in his heaven, all's right in the 
world ;" but when Lincoln fell Garfield himself said 
" justice and judgment are the establishment of His 
throne, mercy and truth shall go before His face ! 
Fellow citizens, God reigns, and the government at 
Washington lives." 

Although he had long taken an interest in politics, 
he died a poor man. However, the country was 
generous and raised, for his widow and children, 
three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. This was 
but a slight manifestation of the feeling occasioned 
by his death. Comparatively unknown to the nation, 
even after his election to the Presidency, during the 
weeks of his struggle after his assassination his name 
became a household word and the " martyred Presi- 
dent," did much to shape the ideas and feeling of his 
people. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



305 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
president chester a. arthur. 
(One Administration, 1881-1885.) 

Chester A. Arthur, Vice-President of the United 
States at the time of the assassination of President 
Garfield, was sworn in as twenty-first President of 
the United States, September 20, 1881. 

President Arthur was born in Fairfield, Franklin 
County, Vt, October 5, 1830. His father, Eev. 
William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, had emigrated 
from Ireland when eighteen years old. His mother 
Malvina Stone was a descendant of a New Hamp- 
shire pioneer. Young Arthur's parents early decided 
to give him an education and he was prepared for 
college at Unionville, at Greenwich, and at Sche- 
nectady. In 1845, in his fifteenth year, he entered 
the sophomore class at Union College. It would 
seem that it was necessary for him to partially sup- 
port himself while at college, for, during several 
terms in his college course he taught school at Schagh- 
ticoke, Rensselaer County. He graduated in his 
nineteenth year and at once began the study of 
law. 

While pursuing his law studies he still continued 
to teach more or less. He acted as tutor for boys 
20 



306 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



preparing for college and in 1851, three years after 
his graduation from Union, was principal of an 
Academy at North Pownal, Vt. He was, however, 
too ambitious to remain at teaching, and, in 1853, de- 
cided to go to the Mecca of ambitious spirits, New 
York City. In this year he entered the office of 
Erastus D. Culver as a student, and before the end 
of the year was admitted to the Bar. Before settling 
down in New York he made a journey through the 
West seeking a good locality in which to practise 
law; but he was unsuccessful in his search, and re- 
turned to New York City and was admitted to the 
firm of Culver & Parker. 

This firm had already gained considerable reputa- 
tion as an advocate of the anti-slavery movement, and 
young Arthur became intensely interested in the 
great question of slavery which was rapidly becoming 
the all-absorbing one in the political situation. 
When he entered the firm the celebrated case of the 
People v. Lemmon was agitating not only New York 
but was causing considerable excitement throughout 
the whole Union and particularly throughout the 
South. The case brought prominently before New 
York the Fugitive Slave Law. One Jonathan Lem- 
mon of Virginia brought eight slaves to New York 
with the intention of sending them from that place 
to Texas. A writ of habeas corpus was issued by 
Judge Elijah Paine with the result that on Novem- 
ber 13, 1852, the slaves were set free. The case was 
appealed by Virginia but Judge Paine's decision was 
affirmed in 1857 and in 1860 was still further sus- 
tained. 

The discussions arising out of this celebrated case 
not only created in Chester Arthur a sympathy for 
the slaves, but gave him an insight into the evils of 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



307 



slavery and the probable results which would follow 
if the institution was allowed to spread to the Free 
States. 

During this same period another question with re- 
gard to coloured people was discussed before the 
courts by his firm. It was a matter of excluding a 
coloured woman, one Lizzie Jennings, from a street 
car in New York. Her suit was successful and the 
right of coloured persons to ride in the city cars was 
ever afterwards recognised. In both of these trials, 
Chester Arthur, though the junior member of the 
firm, took an active part. 

At a very early age Mr. Arthur became interested 
in politics. He was in the beginning a Henry Clay 
Whig. Although not in a position to take an active 
part in the election of 1852, he cast his first vote in 
that year for General Winfield Scott. He was thus 
in at the death of the Whig party which had grown 
weak and vacillating. However, he could not see 
his way clear to join with the Democrats, and was 
one of the first to recognise the great need of forming 
a new party with a new name and new principles out 
of the many diverse elements in the North, which 
were opposed to the Democracy of the South with its 
State-rights principles and its pro-slavery attitude. 
Four years after this when the New York Republi- 
can Convention, the first Republican convention to 
meet in the State, met at Saratoga he was one of the 
active members. In the election which followed he 
took an active part on behalf of General Fremont 
and, though the candidate he supported was de- 
feated by the weak and vacillating Buchanan, he was 
not slow to recognise that the principles then ad- 
vanced would yet win in the country. 

He had been rapidly growing in favour in New 



308 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



York, and had made firm friends among some of the 
leading men. At the beginning of 1861, when war 
was threatening and when the Southern States were 
seceding from the Union, Governor Edwin D. Mor- 
gan appointed him on his staff as engineer-in-chief 
with the rank of brigadier-general. Although barely 
thirty he had not been without military experience, 
and had assisted in organising the State militia and 
had been judge-advocate of the Second Brigade. 
Several months after this appointment the Con- 
federates fired on Fort Sumter, and war was in the 
land. 

Governor Morgan needed a man whom he could 
trust to get ready and send to the front New York's 
quota of troops, and so he made Arthur his acting 
quartermaster-general. This was not his only work 
in the critical year in which the Civil war began. 
As engineer-in-chief he had to consider the defenses 
of New York harbour and the general defenses of the 
State, and the report he submitted in January, 1862, 
showed that he had done his work thoroughly and 
wisely. In February of the same year he was ap- 
pointed inspector-general and in this capacity went to 
the army of the Potomac and inspected the New York 
troops at Fredericksburg and Chickahominy. He re- 
mained in office until 1862 when on the election of 
Horatio Seymour to the governorship of New York 
he returned to his law practice. 

During the two years in which he had been actively 
engaged in connection with the formation and equip- 
ment and inspection of New York's troops he had 
done his work thoroughly and well. There was, of 
course, at such a critical moment every opportunity 
of handling his office for the benefit of himself; 
but he was above corrupt practices, and at a 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



309 



time when many of those in authority were reaping a 
rich harvest from their positions he conducted his 
department in such a way as to win nothing but 
praise. His successor as quartermaster-general thus 
describes his work : "I found on entering on the 
discharge of my duties, a well organised system of 
labour and accountability, for which the State is 
chiefly indebted to my predecessor, General Chester 
A. Arthur, who by his practical good sense and un- 
remitting exertion, at a period when everything was 
in confusion, reduced the operations of the depart- 
ment to a matured plan, by which large amounts of 
money were saved to the government, and great 
economy of time secured in carrying out the details 
of the same." 

For the remainder of the war he seems to have 
taken no active part in its affairs but in partnership 
with Henry G. Gardner devoted himself to his law 
practice. From 1867 to 1872 he was without a 
partner but in that year formed the firm of Arthur, 
Phelps, and Knevals. 

While devoting himself to building up an extensive 
and lucrative business, he did not neglect politics. 
Indeed, the breath of his life was in political activity, 
and he was one of the leaders of the Republican 
party in New York City, occupying several impor- 
tant positions in connection with what might be called 
the Republican " machine." He put much time and 
energy into advancing the interests of his party, and 
was not without his reward, for on November 20, 
1871, President Grant appointed him to the impor- 
tant position of Collector of the Port of New York. 
He did his work in this position at any rate to the 
thorough satisfaction of the government, and four 
years later, in 1875, was nominated for another term. 



310 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

In the campaign of 1876 between Rutherford B. 
Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, General Arthur 
worked with great energy for the Republican party. 
He continued, although holding a government pos- 
ition, to be an active partisan. President Hayes had 
pronounced against government officials taking part 
in elections and decided to remove General Arthur 
from his office and with him Alonzo B. Cornell, 
Naval Officer in the New York Custom House, an- 
other active partisan. They were asked to resign 
after investigation of the charges made against them, 
but Arthur refused and the struggle went on. He 
was, however, suspended on July 11, 1878. 

Apparently the only cause for his removal was his 
active partisanship. He had conducted his office 
with the same integrity and ability with which he 
had performed his duty as quartermaster-general to 
Governor Morgan during the opening years of the 
war. He was not a man to take dismissal quietly and 
made an elaborate defence in which he pointed out 
that he had conducted his office in such a way as to 
keep his personal character untarnished, and that he 
had greatly improved the service. He had not, he 
declared, removed officials except for cause; he had 
systematically promoted from the lower to the higher 
grades on the grounds of good conduct and efficiency ; 
when complaints were made he had promptly and 
thoroughly investigated them and had visited all 
misconduct with proper punishment. In conclusion 
he challenged the government to bring forward any 
instance of a department under the present, or under 
any past, national administration that had been con- 
ducted with greater fairness or honesty. However 
the administration was sustained and Edwin A. Mer- 
ritt became Collector in the place of General Arthur 



CHESTER A i ARTHUR. 



311 



and Silas W. Burt Naval Officer in the place of Mr. 
Cornell. 

General Arthur then resumed his law practice with 
the firm of Arthur, Phelps, Knevals and Ransom, but 
continued to take much more interest in politics than 
in law. He was a delegate at large to the Republican 
National Convention that met at Chicago in June, 
1880. He advocated the nomination of General 
Grant as a successor to President Hayes, despite the 
fact that Grant had already occupied the Presidential 
chair for two terms. But the feeling against a third 
term was too strong at the convention, and the anti- 
third term men succeeded in defeating the supporters 
of Grant and nominating for the Presidency General 
Garfield. During the heated contest that had taken 
place there was atr-more active member of the con- 
vention than Arthur, dnd, although a strong sup- 
porter of Grant, acquiesced in the results of the 
balloting and did not a little to keep the Republican 
party a unit. The next matter for consideration was 
the Vice-Presidency. The New York men had been 
the strongest supporters of Grant and it was felt that 
the anti-third term should be generous and nominate 
for the Vice-Presidency a supporter of Grant and a 
resident of New York State. General Arthur had 
made himself so popular at the convention that, 
although almost totally unknown to the country at 
large he received on the first ballot 468 votes against 
283 for the other candidates. His nomination was 
then made unanimous. 

It is impossible in considering this nomination not 
to feel that the people of the United States treat too 
lightly the great office of Vice-President. Three 
times in the last thirty-six years presidents have been 
cut off in the initial months of the Presidential term 



312 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



by the hand of the assassin, and the country has had 
to face an entire term with the second in command 
at the head of affairs. In the face of such exigencies 
as these there ought to he as much care taken in the 
selection of a vice-president as of a president, and 
no more unwise step could be taken than to select a 
man who was in many ways an opponent of the Presi- 
dent. In a country where trade and commerce is so 
influenced by the man at the head of the government, 
it is essential that in the case of the unexpected re- 
moval of the President the policy he has inaugurated 
should remain in force, and, for the most part, the 
men he has selected as his cabinet should continue 
in office. At the present moment the stability of 
the United States and the unshaken prosperity that 
continues within her borders is largely due to the 
fact that President Roosevelt is on the vital questions 
of the hour at one with his predecessor who was so 
recently slain in Buffalo. 

General Arthur was not the choice of the great 
Republican party of the United States, but of the 
members of the convention who were won by his 
plausible manners and the discretion he showed in 
the difficult situation which presented itself at the 
convention. However, he proved himself thoroughly 
familiar with the great issues of the hour, and when 
he accepted the nomination pronounced himself at 
one with the Garfield platform. He would protect 
the coloured citizens who had lately been enfran- 
chised; he approved of reforms in the public service 
and in this matter took his stand on very much the 
same ground as Hayes ; he pronounced in favour of a 
sound currency, of popular education, and of tariff 
laws that would enable the manufacturers and 
artisans of the United States to compete successfully 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



313 



with those of other lands; he advocated the nation 
undertaking internal improvement, the development 
of the water courses and harbours. When he came to 
the Presidency he proved that these were no idle 
words, and carried out his pledges made as Vice- 
President to the letter. 

At the election which followed in November, Gar- 
field and Arthur were successful, and took office on 
the Fourth of March, 1881. They were scarcely 
comfortably settled in the Capital before serious com- 
plications arose. William H. Robertson had been 
the leader of the anti-third term men at the Chicago 
convention and very naturally roused the animosity 
of Roscoe Conkling and the other supporters of Gen- 
eral Grant for a third term. In spite of this fact 
President Garfield had the bad tact to nominate him 
for Collector of the Port of New York. This, as 
has already been pointed out in dealing with the life 
of Garfield, roused the Senators of New York to an 
intense pitch of indignation. Vice-President Arthur 
might have remained neutral at this time, but he had 
been nominated by Roscoe Conkling and felt him- 
self in duty bound to stand by his friend. He signed 
along with others a remonstrance addressed to the 
President condemning the nomination of Robertson ; 
but Garfield would not be moved. Arthur went 
further than this ; when Senators Conkling and Piatt 
resigned to test the matter before the country the 
Vice-President went to Albany and did all in his 
power to have his friends re-elected to the Senate. 

While this matter was still exciting the country 
Garfield was shot and Vice-President Arthur sud- 
denly found himself elevated to the Presidency. 

WTien news of the assassination was spread 
throughout the country and when it was believed that 



814 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the President could not recover, there was considera- 
ble doubt as to Arthur's fitness for the office. He 
was for one thing an untried statesman, although he 
had been an active politician. Guiteau's brain, too, 
had been more or less turned by the heated discussion 
which took place during the Conkling quarrel, and 
as Conkling and his friends were, by the unreasoning 
crowd, to some extent blamed for the assassination 
of the President, the Vice-President was held by the 
fanatical adherents of Garfield to be in a way respon- 
sible for the deed. Arthur, too, had throughout the 
early part of his life been an advocate of the 
" machine " in politics, and had so far opposed civil 
service reform as to cause his own removal from office 
under Hayes. All these things created a feeling of 
very great uncertainty as to what kind of a President 
he would make. However, during the weeks that his 
President fought bravely with death, by his devotion, 
self-sacrifice, and genuine grief he did much to win 
the confidence of the nation. 

When Garfield died on September 19, the cabinet, 
as in the case of Lincoln's cabinet, announced his 
death to the Vice-President and the oath was ad- 
ministered to him at his home in New York by Judge 
John K. Brady. Two days later Chief Justice 
Waite formally administered the oath in the Presi- 
dent's room in the Capitol at Washington, and 
Chester Alan Arthur officially became President of 
the United States. 

His action towards Garfield during the past six 
weeks had done much to make the people forget that 
he had unwisely taken sides against his President 
in the first months of the administration, and now 
his inaugural address, in which he rose to the occasion 
and to the dignity of the high office to which he was 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



315 



elevated, set most minds at rest. On this important 
occasion he said : 

" For the fourth time in the history of the Kepu- 
blic its chief magistrate has been removed by death. 
All hearts are filled with grief and horror at the 
hideous crime which has darkened our land, and the 
memory of the murdered President, his protracted 
sufferings, his unyielding fortitude, the example and 
achievements of his life and the pathos of his death 
will forever illumine the pages of our history. 

" For the fourth time the officer elected by the 
people and ordained by the Constitution to fill a 
vacancy so created is called to assume the Executive 
chair. The w T isdom of our fathers foreseeing the 
most dire possibilities, made sure that the government 
should never be imperilled because of the uncertainty 
of human life. Men may die but the fabric of our 
free institutions remains unshaken. IsTo higher or 
more assuring proof could exist of the strength and 
permanence of popular government than the fact 
that though the chosen of the people be struck down, 
his constitutional successor is peacefully installed 
without shock or strain, except that of the sorrow 
which mourns the bereavement. All the noble 
aspirations of my lamented predecessor, w T hich found 
expression during his life, the measures devised and 
suggested during his brief administration to correct 
abuses, to enforce economy, to advance prosperity, to 
promote the general welfare, to insure domestic 
security and maintain friendly and honourable rela- 
tion with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in 
the hearts of the people and it will be my earnest 
endeavour to profit and to see that the nation shall 
profit by his example and experience. 

" Prosperity blesses our country. Our fiscal policy 



316 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



as fixed by law is well grounded and generally ap- 
proved. No threatening issue mars our foreign inter- 
course and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our 
people may be trusted to continue undisturbed the 
present career of peace, tranquillity, and welfare. 
The gloom and anxiety which have enshrouded the 
country must make repose especially welcome now. 
ISTo demand for speedy legislation has been heard ; no 
adequate occasion is apparent for an unusual session 
of Congress. The Constitution defines the functions 
and powers of the Executive as clearly as those of 
either of the other two departments of the govern- 
ment, and he must answer for the just exercise of the 
discretion it permits and the performance of the 
duties it imposes. Summoned to these high duties 
and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of 
their magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust im- 
posed by the Constitution, relying for aid on divine 
guidance and on the virtue, patriotism, and intelli- 
gence of the American people." 

Although President Arthur was without ex- 
perience either in national politics or in international 
affairs he was to make an excellent President, if a 
somewhat colourless one. He began his administra- 
tion well. In October he took part in the dedication 
of the monument erected at Yorktown, Ya., to com- 
memorate the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. On this 
occasion he went out of his way to speak in glowing 
terms of Great Britain and paid a high compliment 
to " the illustrious sovereign and gracious lady who 
sits upon the British throne." President Arthur 
recognised that the prosperity of the United States 
largely depended upon her friendship with England, 
and it was a stroke of good policy to take the occasion 
of the dedication of this monument to show that it 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



317 



was done in no spirit of boastful triumph over the 
motherland. 

In the meantime he had had the serious matter of 
his cabinet to consider. When he became President 
the cabinet ministers who had been appointed by 
President Garfield resigned, but President Arthur 
requested them to retain their offices until Congress 
should meet in December. All acquiesced with the 
exception of Secretary Windom who resigned on 
October 24. President Arthur nominated his friend 
of the war period, Edwin D. Morgan as Secretary 
of the Treasury, but Mr. Morgan declined the ap- 
pointment and Charles J. Folger of New York, 
finally became Secretary of the Treasury. During 
the Presidency of General Arthur the following 
ministers occupied the different departments : " Sec- 
retary of State, Frederick T. Erelinghuysen ; Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, Walter Q. Gresham ; Hugh 
McCulloch ; Secretary of War, Robert T. Lincoln; 
Secretary of the Navy, William E. Chandler; Sec- 
retary of the Interior, Henry M. Teller; Attorney- 
General, Benjamin H. Brewster; Postmaster-Gen- 
eral, Timothy O. Howe ; Walter Q. Gresham ; 
Prank Hattan. Robert T. Lincoln was the only 
member of this cabinet who had served under Gar- 
field, and he continued in the cabinet till the end of 
Arthur's presidential career. 

In 1879, war broke out between Chili and the 
allied states of Peru and Bolivia. Although the 
armies opposed were comparatively small, the strug- 
gle had been a bloody and costly one. On account of 
the coast line it was chiefly a naval contest in which 
Chili at first had the disadvantage, but after the 
capture of the Peruvian warship " Huascar " the tide 
turned in her favour. An effort was made on the 



318 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



part of the United States to bring the war to a con- 
clusion and after the fall of Lima special envoys were 
sent to both Chili and Peru in 1882, but accom- 
plished nothing, and at the end of the year the situa- 
tion remained unchanged. However, in 1883, the 
war was brought to a conclusion. The efforts of the 
United States at this time were of a somewhat 
paternal nature and showed that she was not only 
asserting the Monroe Doctrine so far as the non- 
interference of the European powers in American 
affairs was concerned, but that she looked upon her- 
self as the dominant republic which had laid upon 
her the duty of looking after the interests of the 
other struggling nations on the American continents. 

Shortly after President Arthur came into power 
an effort was made under his direction to establish 
commercial treaties between the United States and 
the other countries of America. A treaty was made 
with Mexico and this treaty was ratified by the Sen- 
ate in 1884; but similar treaties with Santo Dom- 
ingo, and with Spain relative to the trade of Cuba 
and Porto Rico were laid over until President Cleve- 
land came into office. 

The French under De Lesseps were at this time 
busily prosecuting the work on the Panama Canal, 
and an Isthmian Canal very naturally attracted the 
attention of the United States, which would be the 
country to benefit most by such a project. As a 
result of the agitation in regard to the canal the 
Clayton-Bulwer treaty was much in evidence, and 
the attitude of England in regard to this treaty no 
doubt had not a little to do with preventing the 
American people from undertaking the project of 
constructing the canal. However, the agitation was 
not without force, and on December 1, 1884, a treaty 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



319 



was made with Nicaragua authorising the United 
States to construct the canal, railway, and telegraph 
line across Nicaragua territory by way of San Juan 
river and Lake Nicaragua. The time was not ripe 
for such a project, however, and it was not until the 
French Company which had in hand the construction 
of the Panama Canal had hopelessly failed and the 
century had closed that the United States made 
serious preparations to begin the vast and necessary 
project of a canal. 

For some years the Chinese, who found in America 
an excellent market for their labour, flocked into the 
country in such numbers as to become a serious 
menace to civilisation on the Pacific Coast, and were 
indeed considered by many a nuisance even in the 
Eastern cities. To check this immigration a bill was 
passed by Congress prohibiting the importation of 
Chinese labourers for a term of twenty years. This 
bill violated a treaty made with China in 1880, which 
permitted the limitation or suspension of immigra- 
tion but not absolute prohibition, and the President 
felt constrained to veto the bill. As his course was 
looked upon by the Senate as mere justice to the 
Chinese his veto was sustained. However, it was 
necessary to do something to check the nuisance and a 
bill suspending immigration for ten years was suc- 
cessfully carried through both Houses and received 
the President's sanction. 

Perhaps the most important work done during this 
Presidential term, the most far-reaching in its conse- 
quence, was the construction of modern warships. 
In the War of 1812 the United States with her 
splendid models of sailing ships had been able to de- 
feat the best ships of England, and for the first time 
since the reign of Elizabeth England's commanders 



320 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



were frequently forced to lower their colours to a 
superior enemy. There was during the Civil war 
some attempt made at the construction of a navy, but 
it was not of a character that could have competed 
with the navies of Europe, and since the war little 
or nothing had been done to place the vessels of the 
United States on a fighting basis. She was gradually 
taking a position in the world which demanded that 
she should have vessels capable of enforcing her 
rights on the powers with which she had dealings. 
For instance, she had become a kind of foster-parent 
to the South-American Republics, and at any time 
she might be compelled to send a strong fleet to South 
American waters to protect her interests there. She 
had likewise become a decided factor in the far East 
and her trade and influence with both China and 
J apan were rapidly growing. The ships with which 
Commodore Perry had been able to frighten Japan 
into opening her ports would be of small use in a 
modern naval battle and yet her vessels had improved 
but little since the days of Perry. But what was of 
greater importance, was that Spain was at her door, 
possessing what was supposed to be a fairly strong 
fleet. To the far-seeing ones sooner or later war with 
Spain was inevitable, and as the centre of war would 
be about Cuba and Porto Rico it was very necessary 
that ships, modern ships, should be constructed. More- 
over her merchants were sending her goods to all lands 
and her missionaries were going to the farthest cor- 
ners of the earth. They were the advanced guard 
of peace and civilisation, but to make their work 
effective it was very necessary that they should be 
supported by fleet and strong ships and by modern 
guns. 

President Arthur saw the need of a new navy and 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



321 



strongly advised the adoption of a forward policy in 
this direction. There were a number of old wooden 
ships still in commission, which from time to time 
were patched up and painted but now the order was 
issued that no further improvement should be made 
on them. It was likewise decided to begin within 
the country the construction of both steel ships and 
guns. As a result of this policy the cruisers " Chi- 
cago/' " Boston/' and " Atlantic " were built in 
American workshops and before the end of President 
Arthur's term the shipyards of the country resounded 
with the clink of the hammer as cruisers, monitors, 
and gunboats were being constructed. It was this 
work that enabled the United States to meet Spain 
on the high seas, to crush her fleet in Manila Bay 
and to utterly destroy her navy as Cervera stole out 
of Santiago harbour. This policy did an even greater 
work within the country. It established firmly the 
great shipbuilding industries, and the great gun 
foundries that were to place the United States in the 
forefront of the steel producing countries of the 
w 7 orld, and by this means did not a little to foster the 
growth of industries that favourably compete with 
the long-established ones of England and the Conti- 
nent. 

It will be remembered, that when General Arthur 
was engineer-in-chief to Governor Morgan of New 
York State, during the first years of the war, he had 
to thoroughly investigate the military condition of 
the coast and had in 1862 made an elaborate report 
on coast defence. Through this work he was more 
or less familiar with the needs of his country in this 
regard as a whole, and from his war experiences 
recognised how defenceless the United States would 
be if attacked by any of the Powers. He therefore 
21 



322 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

repeatedly called the attention of Congress to the 
need of protecting his country's shores with modern 
forts and modern guns. Liberal expenditure was 
made, and, largely through his efforts, on March 3, 
1885, it was recommended by a fortification board 
that the sum of $126,377,800 be expended in the 
matter of fortifications. 

During this time, too, tariff reform was a promi- 
nent issue, — from a political point of view, the most 
prominent. President Arthur in dealing with the 
matter sounded the note which was to be the note of 
the Republican presidents for the remainder of the 
century. In reforming the tariff the most necessary 
thing to consider was, would the changes made aid 
and protect the American labourer and manufacturer. 
However, it was not until the Presidency of William 
McKinley that a high protective tariff became the 
policy of the nation both among Democrats and Re- 
publicans. 

Attention was likewise given during this term to 
improving the navigation of the great waterway of 
the heart of the continent, the Mississippi, and about 
$10,000,000 was expended for permanent improve- 
ments and for the relief of those who had suffered 
by the great floods which annually destroy much prop- 
erty, and are the occasion at times of great loss of 
life. 

Another very far-reaching reform was the reduc- 
tion of letter postage to two cents. This, while not 
seriously affecting the revenue, had the effect of in- 
creasing the amount of correspondence and drawing 
the different parts of the nation in a way closer 
together. It had another effect; the attention of 
the sister nation — if it can be called a nation — 
Canada, was called to the same matter, and there was 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR, 



323 



much agitation for the reduction of postage. It was 
not, however, until a strong wave of imperial feeling 
swept the country that the government of Canada 
decided to follow the example of her great sister, and 
entered into negotiation with the British government 
to have penny postage for the Empire. This step, 
due largely to the example of the United States, did 
much to unify the widely scattered Empire. Shortly 
after the penny postage was established for the 
Empire, Canada reduced her internal postage from 
three to two cents for letters. 

During his entire public career General Arthur 
had had his attention called to the need of civil 
service reform. He had himself been suspended 
from office by President Hayes on account of what 
the President considered unbecoming conduct on the 
part of a public servant. Again, at the time of the 
Garfleld-Conkling quarrel over the appointment of 
Mr. Robertson as Collector for the Port of ~New York, 
he had again taken his stand with the " machine/' 
but now that he was President he felt the need of 
putting forth some special effort to " regulate and 
improve the civil service of the United States," and 
although the people never had any very great 
confidence in his efforts to improve the civil service, 
during his entire term as President he did much 
to assist the heads of the departments in improving 
the service. 

There were several other occurrences of importance 
during this term. A polar relief expedition was 
fitted out under Commander Schley for the purpose 
of rescuing Lieutenant Greely. The " Thetis," 
" Bear," and " Alert," sailed northward to Lady 
Eranklin bay in the Arctic regions and at Cape 
Sabine found the Lieutenant and seven survivors of 



324 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



his crew. Seventeen members of the expedition had 
perished. It was, too, while Arthur was President 
that Brooklyn bridge which had been in course of 
construction for some years was opened. 

His very last act as President was to sign the bill 
placing General Grant on the retired list. After- 
wards as ex-President he was appointed chairman of 
the committee to collect funds for the national monu- 
ment to the memory of this great soldier. 

It has been said that President Arthur was 
fortunate in having no great issues to consider ; in a 
sense this is true. Had a great international compli- 
cation arisen or had he been forced to grapple with 
such a situation as was occasioned by the Civil war, or 
later by the Spanish-American war, it is doubtful 
if he had the qualities that would have given the 
nation confidence at such crises. However, the work 
which came to his hand to do was done well and the 
nation prospered under his rule. 

It is noteworthy that practically all the great ques- 
tions that have since agitated the nation were dealt 
with by Arthur in their initial stages ; tariff reform, 
civil service reform, the Chinese question, the modern 
naval policy of the country, the coast defence and the 
attitude of the United States to the South American 
Republics came up during his administration. His 
term as President may fitly be considered the link 
between the reconstruction period after the war and 
the modern period of rapid growth which was to con- 
tinue until the twentieth century. 

VvTiile the people on the whole never looked upon 
him as a great president, and were unable to forget 
his early civil service attitude and the position he 
took in the Garfield-Conkling quarrel, they could not 
but recognise that he had greatly improved in office ; 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



325 



many indeed believed him to be the strongest man in 
the Republican party and were in favour of nomina- 
ting him for the Presidency. At the Chicago Re- 
publican Convention which met, June 3, 1884, on 
the first ballot he received over half the votes, but 
was in the end defeated by James G. Blaine, to whom 
during the campaign which followed he gave his 
" earnest and cordial support." 

When he laid down his office he returned to the 
practice of law in ISTew York City. He had, how- 
ever, but a short time to live, and, in 1886, on No- 
vember 18, died suddenly at his residence on 
Lexington Avenue from cerebral apoplexy and 
was buried at Albany, ISTew York. His wife, Ellen 
Lewis Herndon, a daughter of Commander William 
Lewis Herndon of the United States Navy had died 
eight years before, January 12, 1880. 



326 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND. 

(Two Administrations, 1885-1889, 1893-1897.) 

For twenty-four years the Republican party had 
held sway over the destinies of the country. With 
the retirement from office of the weakling Buchanan 
the Democratic party which had been the most 
powerful factor in American politics from the be- 
ginning of the century was hurled from office, and it 
looked as if the Democrats would not recover power 
until the generation which had fought for slavery 
and secession had passed away. But a man had 
arisen in New York State finely representative of 
the modern Democratic spirit, and although never 
having strongly identified himself with either of the 
great political parties he was chosen to fill the Presi- 
dential chair. This man was Grover Cleveland, 
Governor of New York State — a man who had so 
far made no brilliant speeches, written no great 
books, and led no armies into battle. He had proved 
himself a man of immense business capacity, honest, 
and with a stern sense of duty. The times de- 
manded such a man. Long tenure of office had per- 
mitted great political corruption to find a home at 
Washington, and the people of the Union felt that 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



327 



" it was time for a change. " A Democrat with a 
war record against the Union or one of the Bu- 
chanan type, pretending neutrality, would never 
have been elected. A wise selection was made in 
choosing a man, no striking partisan, of proved bus- 
iness capacity and of clean hands. 

Stephen Grover Cleveland, twenty-second Presi- 
dent of the United States, was born at the little 
village of Caldwell, Essex County, New Jersey, 
March 18, 1837. It is difficult to get information 
about his ancestors, but a few important facts have 
been discovered. In the first place the Clevelands 
were no late comers to America, but are almost as 
old as Massachusetts. One Moses Cleveland left Ips- 
wich in the county of Suffolk in the year 1635. Why 
he left England is not known, but as the Clevelands 
have ever been a religious family it may have been 
that he came to New England, where he settled at Wo- 
burn, Massachusetts, on account of the social and 
religious oppression of the Puritans by the Stuarts. 
He left a numerous progeny, and from the Christian 
names of his descendants it can be inferred that 
Grover Cleveland came of a long line of sturdy New 
England Puritans. One of his ancestors, Aaron 
Cleveland, was a prominent anti-slavery Eepublican 
at the end of the eighteenth century, and was a man 
of considerable literary and oratorical power, 
coupled with great business capacity. It is no doubt 
from him that Grover Cleveland inherited much of 
his natural genius. His ancestors, too, were many 
of them connected with the church, or rather with 
religion, for the Presbyterian, the Episcopalian, the 
Congregationalist churches all have had Clevelands 
as clergymen or deacons. His grandfather was 
William Cleveland, a silversmith by trade. This 



328 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



man was a deacon in the Congregational church for 
twenty-five years. 

The second son of William Cleveland was Richard 
Falley, the father of Grover Cleveland. He was 
born in Norwich in 1801. At the early age of six- 
teen he entered Yale College and was a faithful 
and brilliant student, graduating in 1824 with high 
honours. He began work as a tutor in Baltimore, 
and there met Anne Neal the daughter of a pub- 
lisher and merchant. He had decided to enter the 
ministry and soon after meeting Miss Neal left Balti- 
more for the Princeton Theological Seminary. In 
1829, he was ordained and returned to claim the 
hand of the " sweet Southern girl " whose heart was 
still true to him. In all nine children were born to 
them, of whom Stephen Grover was the fifth. It is 
worthy of note that the first Democratic president 
after the great Civil war, the man who was to do 
so much to allay the bitterness that still existed be- 
tween the North and the South, was on his father's 
side a Northerner and on his mother's possessed of 
Southern sympathies. 

The young couple seemed to have been moved 
about a good deal during the first years of their 
married life. Richard Falley Cleveland's first 
charge was in Windham, Connecticut; his second at 
Portsmouth, Virginia ; and his third at Caldwell, 
New Jersey. One Stephen Grover had been his im- 
mediate predecessor in this latter charge, and out of 
respect for his memory he christened his boy, born in 
the parsonage, after him. He had not yet found a 
permanent home, and, in 1841, moved from Cald- 
well to Fayetteville, a quaint, sleepy village near 
Syracuse, and from this year Grover Cleveland's 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



329 



life has been identified with the State of ISTew 
York. 

The future president began his school life in 
Fayetteville, and was an apt, ambitious student, 
showing a particular liking for literature and the 
languages. The Clevelands had begun to look upon 
Fayetteville as home, when, in 1848, the father, 
whose health was not good, had an opportunity of 
accepting a home mission position and moved his 
family to Clinton in Oneida County. This was 
an advantageous move for his sons, and while 
here William, who was intended for the church, 
completed his college course, and Grover had the 
advantage of a good preparatory school for 
several years. When he was almost ready for 
college his father, who no doubt felt the edu- 
cation of nine children, four boys and five girls, 
a burden, advised him to try a year or two at 
business, and he returned to his old home at Fayette- 
ville and entered the employ of a Deacon Mc- 
Viccar, who kept a general store. He worked here 
for a year for the magnificent salary of fifty dollars 
and had entered upon his second year at a salary of 
one hundred dollars. A President of the United 
States trained in a grocery store ! It may not at 
first seem that such a place could have had much 
influence on his career. It must be remembered, 
however, that President Cleveland's strength lay in 
the power of application, in his business methods, and 
in his integrity ; and the business training he received 
under Deacon McViccar may have done much to give 
him his bent. After all the village store is a mi- 
crocosm of the United States. The States of the 
Union are but departments in the greatest commercial 
concern in the world. 



330 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Despite the large family the father had to provide 
for he still hoped to give Grover a college education, 
and, just when the lad entered on his second year 
in the Fayetteville grocery store, called him home to 
Clinton to go on with his studies. His father was 
evidently a man of great courage, for at the time 
when he thus prepared to make sacrifices for his 
son he was in very poor health. He had grown weary 
of home mission work, and accepted a call to a church 
at Holland Patent, a little hamlet twelve miles north 
of Utica ; but he was to enjoy his new charge for only 
a short time. In a month after moving from Clin- 
ton he died suddenly, and the Clevelands were left 
without the bread winner. ~No college for Grover 
now! He must energetically brace himself to bear 
the buffets of the world, and to help provide for his 
mother and sisters and to assist in educating the 
younger children. 

His elder brother William was at this time an in- 
structor in the Institution for the Blind in New York, 
and Grover received a position in the same institu- 
tion as book-keeper and assistant teacher. He re- 
mained here a year, but saw no hope in the East of a 
future, and so decided to journey westward. He had 
not been able to save much while employed in New 
York, and, in order to strike out for himself, was 
forced to borrow money. A friend of his father's 
the Honourable Ingram Townsend, loaned him 
twenty-five dollars to help him on his way. It was 
not until twelve years afterwards that he returned 
the money. His letter with regard to the loan is well 
worth quoting ; 

"January 23, 1867. 
" I am now in a condition to pay my note which 
you hold, given for money borrowed some years ago. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



331 



I suppose I might have paid it long ago, but T never 
thought you were in need of it, and I had other 
purposes for my money. I have forgotten the date 
of the note. If you will send me it I will mail you 
the principal and interest. The loan you made me 
was my start in life, and I shall always preserve the 
note as an interesting reminder of your kindness. 
Let me hear from you soon. With many kind wishes 
to Mrs. Townsend and your family, 

" I am, yours very respectfully, 

Geovee Cleveland/' 

A thoroughly matter of fact note this ; but it shows 
that there were two sides to young Cleveland's char- 
acter. He was not without sentiment, and his deter- 
mination to preserve the note proves him something 
more than a mere methodical, upright, unbending 
governing machine, as so many have supposed him. 

In 1855, in his eighteenth year, he set his face 
westward. Before cutting himself off from his East- 
ern connections, like a dutiful son, he visited his 
mother at Holland Patent to say farewell and to re- 
ceive her blessing. He walked the streets of Syra- 
cuse and Utica for days in a vain search for work. 
Farther west he would go and turned his feet to- 
wards Cleveland, Ohio, attracted, it is said, by the 
name. He had an uncle, a Mr. Lewis F. Allen, living 
at Black Rock, now a part of Buffalo, and to this 
place he journeyed. Here he found a goal and his 
life became identified with the life of that thriving 
city of Xew York State. 

His uncle was a breeder of short-horns, and in his 
leisure moments was at work on a descriptive cata- 
logue called the American Short-Horn Herd Book. 
He saw that his nephew had more than ordinary 



332 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ability, and persuaded him to give up his design of 
going to Cleveland, and to stay at Black Kock and 
help him with his book. For six weeks he laboured 
industriously on one of the volumes, and for his serv- 
ices received sixty dollars. He assisted on further 
volumes of this work, and Mr. Allen in his preface to 
his sixth volume makes mention of his services. 

His uncle knew that he was ambitious to become 
a lawyer, and while his nephew was busy with his 
short-horn herd book kept looking about for an open- 
ing in some of the Buffalo legal firms, and when 
Grover had completed the task allotted him, and was 
thinking once more about travelling westward his 
uncle told him that he had secured him a position 
as clerk and copyist in the law firm of Rogers, Bowen 
and Rogers. He was now at congenial work, and in 
his eighteenth year began the tasks which were to 
lead him to the White House. But for that short- 
horn herd book he would probably never have at- 
tained the Presidency of the United States. It was 
the peculiar life of New York State which trained 
him for that exalted position, and his destiny might 
have been entirely changed had be become identified 
with the West, certainly his chances for a great 
career would have been greatly lessened. 

He was an industrious student, taking positive de- 
light in devouring Blackstone, and in 1859 was ad- 
mitted to the Bar. He still remained with the firm, 
however, and was soon in receipt of a salary of 
$1,000 a year. Meanwhile he was not forgetful of 
his mother, brothers, and sisters, and even in his 
student days had sent part of his earnings to help 
provide for them. 

In 1863, he was appointed assistant district-attor- 
ney of Erie County, and thus for the first time came 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



333 



before the public eye. He proved himself an efficient 
officer. He displayed at this time the qualities of 
uprightness and industry which were to distinguish 
his presidential career. When but twenty-eight years 
old he was, although no active partisan, selected as 
the Democratic candidate for the office of district- 
attorney, but was defeated by the Republican candi- 
date, Mr. Lyman K. Bass. 

Meanwhile the great Civil war had been fought 
and he had been apparently neutral. He was the first 
man drafted in Buffalo, but at once borrowed money 
and sent a substitute to the war. When he came 
prominently before the public his action at this cri- 
tical period in his country's history gave his enemies 
an opportunity of making capital against him. He 
endured their abuse with his usual unruffled calmness. 
He had acted conscientiously and with noble purpose. 
Two of his brothers, Richard Cecil, born in 1835, and 
Lewis Frederick, born in 1841, were both fighting 
for the Union, and this left his mother and sisters 
largely dependent on him for support. His first duty 
was towards them, and the glory of arms could not 
draw him aside from it ; unable to fight he refrained 
from talking about the war, but he was thoroughly in 
sympathy with the Union. 

In 1866 he entered into a law partnership with J. 
K. Vanderpool, and in 1869 became a member of the 
firm of Laning, Cleveland, and Folsom. The follow- 
ing year he was elected sheriff of Erie county, and 
after three years of faithful service formed a new 
law partnership with Lyman K. Bass and Wilson S. 
Bissell. Mr. Bass's health failed him and the firm 
then became Cleveland and Bissell. He was now 
of ripe years, with considerable experience, and recog- 
nised as one of the ablest lawyers in the West. " His 



334: PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



jury and bench trials were distinguished by clear 
views, direct, simple logic, and a thorough mastery 
of all the intricacies of the cases, and his invariable 
avoidance of extrinsic issues and purely technical de- 
vices secured for him the respect of his own pro- 
fession and the admiration of the public." 

Until 1881 his reputation grew, and then he was to 
be suddenly brought prominently before the nation 
as a man of exceptional powers. The government of 
Buffalo, like the government of the majority of the 
great corporations of the United States, was thorough- 
ly corrupt ; ring-rule and the ward politicians ran the 
city. The best elements desired a change, and the 
Democrats selected Grover Cleveland as their can- 
didate for Mayor. His sterling character attracted 
to his side many prominent Republicans. He had 
said at the convention at which he was nominated, 
" let us then in all sincerity promise the people an 
improvement in our municipal affairs ; and if the 
opportunity is offered to us, as it surely will be, let us 
faithfully keep that promise." The people of Buffalo 
knew the man and believed in him, and elected him 
with a majority of 3,500 votes. 

In his inaugural message he very clearly laid down 
the principles on which he intended to act as mayor ; 
and they are identical with his principles as President 
— and these principles he maintained to the letter. 

" We hold," he said, " the money of the people in 
our hands, to be used for their purposes and to fur- 
ther their interests as members of the municipality, 
and it is quite apparent that, when any part of the 
funds with which the taxpayers have thus entrusted 
us are diverted to other purposes, or when, by design 
or neglect, we allow a greater sum to be applied to any 
municipal purpose than is necessary, we have, to that 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



335 



extent, violated our duty. There surely is no differ- 
ence in his duties and obligations, whether a person 
is being trusted with the money of one man or many. 
And yet it sometimes appears as though the office- 
holder assumed that a different rule of fidelity pre- 
vails between him and the taxpayers than that which 
should regulate his conduct, when, as an individual, 
he holds the money of his neighbour. 

4 4 It seems to me that a successful and faithful ad- 
ministration of the government of our city may be 
accomplished by constantly bearing in mind that we 
are the trustees and agents of cur fellow citizens, 
holding their funds in sacred trust, to be expended 
for their benefit ; that we should at all times be pre- 
pared to render an honest account of them, touching 
the manner of their expenditures ; and that the affairs 
of the city should be conducted, as far as possible, 
upon the same principle as a good business man 
manages his private concerns. ' ' 

He took office on January 1, 1882, and soon earned 
for himself the name of 4 4 veto-mayor. 5 ' Public funds 
were being squandered ; the council was letting con- 
tracts for public works at a ridiculously high figure. 
The new mayor looked carefully into every contract, 
and unhesitatingly vetoed awards that seemed to him 
to be iniquitous, and through him, on two items 
alone, a street-cleaning contract and a sewer-contract, 
the corporation saved nearly one million dollars. 

His message to the council on the street-cleaning 
contract, known as the 4 4 Plain Speech Yeto " is a 
courageous denunciation of corrupt methods of con- 
ducting public affairs. It has often been a matter of 
wonder how an unknown lawyer of one of the least 
among the great cities of the United States could have 
risen so rapidly to the first place in the nation. This 



336 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



speech gives the reason. From the hour he uttered it 
he was a marked man ; honest, able, fearless, — just 
the man to stem the rising tide of corruption at Wash- 
ington. 

" The bid thus accepted by your honourable body 
is more than one hundred thousand dollars higher 
than that of another perfectly responsible party for 
the same work; and a worse and more suspicious 
feature in the transaction is that the bid now accepted 
is fifty thousand dollars more than that made by Tal- 
bot" (the contractor) " himself within a very few 
weeks, openly and publicly, to your honourable body, 
for performing precisely the same services. This 
latter circumstance is, to my mind, the manifesta- 
tion on the part of the contractor of a reliance upon 
the forbearance and generosity of your honourable 
body, which would be more creditable if it were less 
expensive to the taxpayers. 

" I am not aware that any excuse is offered for the 
acceptance of this proposal thus increased, except the 
very flimsy ones that the lower bidders cannot afford 
to do the work for the sums they named. This ex- 
treme tenderness and consideration for those who 
desire to contract for the city, and this touching and 
paternal solicitude lest they should be improvidently 
led into a bad bargain, is, I am sure, an exception to 
general business rules, and seems to have no place in 
the selfish, sordid world, except as found in the ad- 
ministration of municipal affairs. 

" The charter of your city requires that the mayor, 
when he disapproves any resolution of your honour- 
able body shall return the same with his objections. 

ce This is a time for plain speech and my objection 
to the action of your honourable body now under con- 
sideration shall be plainly stated. I withhold my 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



337 



assent from the same, because I regard it as the 
culmination of a most bare-faced, impudent, and 
shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people 
and to worse than squander the public money. 

" I will not be misunderstood in this matter. 
There are those whose votes were given for this 
resolution whom I cannot and will not suspect of wil- 
ful neglect of the interests they are sworn to protect ; 
but it has been fully demonstrated that there are 
influences both in and about your honourable body, 
which it behooves every honest man to watch and 
avoid with the greatest care. 

" When cool judgment rules the hour, the people 
will, I hope and believe, have no reason to complain 
of the action of your honourable body. But clumsy 
appeals to prejudice or passion, insinuations, with a 
kind of low, cheap cunning, as to the motives and 
purposes of others, and the mock heroism of brazen 
effrontery which openly declares that a wholesome 
public sentiment is to be set at nought sometimes 
deceives and leads honest men to aid in the consum- 
mation of schemes, which, if exposed, they would look 
upon with abhorrence. 

" If the scandal in connection with this street- 
cleaning contract which has so aroused our citizens, 
shall cause them to select and watch with more care 
those to whom they entrust their interests, and if it 
serves to make all of us who are charged with official 
duties more careful in their performance it will not 
be an unmitigated evil. 

" We are fast gaining positions in the grades of 
public stewardship. There is no middle ground. 
Those who are not for the people either in or out of 
your honourable body are against them, and should 
be treated accordingly." 
22 



338 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



One other act while he held the mayoralty is even 
more noteworthy. The city council had passed the 
following resolution : " That the city clerk, be, and 
he is hereby directed to draw a warrant on the 4th of 
July fund for five hundred dollars to the order of 
J. S. Edwards, Chairman of the Decoration Day 
Committee of the Grand Army of the Eepublic, for 
the purpose of defraying the expenses attending a 
proper observance of Decoration Day." 

He determined to veto this resolution. Such a 
grant was contrary to the State constitution. His 
step at this time must have caused him no small 
struggle. He was, as Whittle says, " presiding over a 
great Northern community, and was a member of the 
party who had been the political allies of the men 
who had fought the Grand Army of the Republic. 
His action would be misinterpreted by the extreme 
Republicans and his political enemies would use it 
against him." But it mattered not to him, he was 
"constant as the northern star " in his determination 
to do right and to abide by the constitution. 

In vetoing the resolution, he said : " I deem the 
object of this appropriation a most worthy one. The 
efforts of our veteran soldiers to keep alive the 
memory of their fallen comrades certainly deserves 
the aid and encouragement of their fellow-citizens. 
We should all, I think, feel it a duty and a privilege 
to contribute to the funds necessary to carry out such 
a purpose. And I should be much disappointed if 
an appeal to our citizens for voluntary subscriptions 
for this patriotic object should be in vain. 

" But the money so contributed should be a free 
gift of the citizens and taxpayers, and should not be 
extorted from them by taxation. This is so, because 
the purpose for which this money is asked does not 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



339 



involve their protection or interest as members of the 
community, and it may or may not be approved by 
them. 

" The people are forced to pay taxes into the city 
treasury only upon the theory that such money shall 
be expended for public purposes, or purposes in 
which they all have a direct and practical interest. 

" The logic of this position leads directly to the 
conclusion that, if the people are forced to pay their 
money into the public fund and it is spent by their 
servants and agents for purposes in which the people 
as taxpayers have no interest, the exaction of such 
taxes from them is oppressive and unjust. 

" I cannot rid myself of the idea that this city 
government, in its relation to the taxpayers, is a 
business establishment, and that it is put in our hands 
to be conducted on business principles." 

There lies the secret of his success. He was a. 
business mayor, — the people of New York State 
recognised that and they chose him for Governor ; he 
was a business governor, — the people of the United 
States recognised him as such and they elected him 
President. He was the embodiment of the spirit of 
push and enterprise that dominated the nation. 

He was something more than that, however. In a 
speech delivered on July 3, 1882, when Buffalo was 
holding its semi-centennial celebration he said: 
" But this citizenship brings with it duties not unlike 
those we owe our neighbour and our God." Again in 
September of the same year when laying the corner 
stone of the Young Men's Christian Association 
Building he remarked : " Good and pure government 
lies at the foundation of the wealth and progress of 
every nation." We have here the loftiest ideals ; the 
Puritan blood in his veins made moral rectitude go 
hand in hand with business acuteness. 



34:0 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XX. 

president grovek Cleveland (Continued), 

In 1882 the Republican Party brought forward as 
a candidate for the governorship of New York State, 
Mr. Charles J. Folger. The governor for the pre- 
vious term, Mr. Cornell, had not proved himself as 
plastic in the hands of the professional politicians as 
they would like, and they concluded to prevent his 
renomination for office. Mr. Folger was selected as 
he was known to be a strong partisan and at the same 
time a man of flawless character. At the time of his 
nomination he was Secretary of the Treasury to Pre- 
sident Arthur and his introduction into State affairs 
was to many an evidence that the Federal politicians 
were endeavouring to run the State along Federal 
lines. There was at this time in the Federal govern- 
ment a great deal of corruption and many of the 
best men in New York State feared that the election 
of Mr. Folger would mean even greater corruption in 
the State than was at that time existing. 

The Democratic party took advantage of the pecul- 
iar situation to select a man who was no active politi- 
cian, one on whom the Democrats could unite with 
the best element in the Republican party. Several 
prominent Democrats such as Roswell B. Flower 
and General B. Slocum were much spoken about, but 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



341 



they were both pronounced Democrats, active poli- 
ticians, for whom it would be difficult to secure any 
part of the Republican vote of the State. 

At this juncture the name of Grover Cleveland, 
Mayor of Buffalo, Avas brought forward. The splen- 
did manner in which he had conducted the affairs 
of his city, his integrity of purpose, his fearless- 
ness, his opposition to every form of corruption, 
his earnestness in the direction of Civil Service 
Reform and his freedom from partisan bias, had all 
given him something more than a local reputation. 
Indeed, the good work he had done in Buffalo had 
made him favourably known to the nation. At first, 
he was merely spoken about as the future governor 
among his Buffalo friends, but as the time for the 
meeting of the State Convention drew nigh it was 
evident that he would have a strong following at 
Syracuse. 

The Kew York Sun was most energetic in its ad- 
vocacy. It eulogised him as a man possessed of the 
''highest qualities of a public man, sound principles, 
of administrative duty, luminous intelligence and 
courage to do what is right no matter who may be 
pleased or displeased thereby." It declared him to 
be a man on whom any honest citizen no matter of 
what political faith could put his trust, and main- 
tained that the interests of the Empire State would 
be entirely safe in his hands. Mr. Manning who pro- 
posed his name at the Convention gave the reason 
why he was acceptable to the Democratic party, when 
he said, " he was a man who could command not only 
the votes of his own party, but also a large propor- 
tion of the independent voters of the State." There 
was little doubt from the first of Mr. Cleveland's 



842 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



nomination, and he was nominated on the third 
ballot. 

The campaign which followed was one of the most 
stirring in the history of 2sTew York State. It was a 
struggle for more than State domination ; if the De- 
mocrats were successful in electing Grover Cleveland 
for Governor they would stand an excellent chance of 
getting into power at the next Presidential election. 
They had a decided triumph, and their candidate was 
elected by a majority of 192,000, a vote which 
showed very clearly the attitude of the best members 
of the Eepublican party to the professional politi- 
cians. 

Mr. Cleveland began his term as governor well. 
He was a Democrat of the Democrats and in order 
to show that he was a simple plain citizen, although 
at the head of a State as large and influential and 
more wealthy than some of the European monarchies, 
he walked to the government buildings to the in- 
augural ceremonies, and as soon as they were over 
began to work industriously in the governor's offices. 
During his term as governor he kept no carriage, and 
in private life was in no way different from what he 
had been as a citizen of Buffalo. 

He had been a people's mayor, he was now a peo- 
ple's governor, and took the first opportunity which 
presented itself of showing how fully he recognised 
that his election was due to the popular will and that 
it was his intention to have ever before him the needs 
and wishes of the people. At a banquet given in his 
honour at the Manhattan Club of JSTew York city on 
December 6, he said: 

■ ' He must be blind who cannot see that the people 
well understand their power and are determined to 
use it when their rights and interests are threatened. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



343 



There should be no skepticism to-night as to the 
strength and perpetuity of our government. Partisan 
leaders have learned, too, that the people will not un- 
wittingly and blindly follow, and that something 
more than wavering devotion to party is necessary to 
secure their allegiance. I am quite certain that the 
late demonstration did not spring from any pre- 
existing love for the party which was called to power, 
nor did the people put the affairs of the State in our 
hands to be by them forgotten. They voted for 
themselves, and in their own interests. If we retain 
their confidence, we must deserve it, and we may be 
sure they will call on us to give an account of our 
stewardship. We shall utterly fail to read aright the 
signs of the times if we are not fully convinced that 
parties are but instruments through which the people 
work out their will, and that when they become less 

or more, the people desert or destroy them It 

has seemed to me that a citizen who has been chosen 
by his fellows to discharge public duties owes no less 
nor more to them whether he is selected by a small or 
a large majority. In either event he owes to the 
people who honour him his best endeavours to care- 
fully protect their rights and further their interests. 
An administration is only successful in a partisan 
sense when it appears to be an outgrowth and result 
of party principles and methods. These honoured 
doctrines of the Democratic party are dear to me. If 
honestly applied in their purity I know that the 
affairs of the government will be fittingly and hon- 
estly administered, and I believe that all the wants 
and needs of the people would be met. They have 
survived all changes, and good patriotic men have 
clung to them through all disasters as the hope of 
political salvation. Let us hold them as a sacred 



34:4 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



trust, and not forget that the intelligent, thinking, 
reading people will look to a party which they put in 
power to supply all their various needs and wants, 
and that the party which keeps pace with the develop- 
ments and progress of the times, which keeps in 
sight its landmarks and yet observes the things which 
are in advance, and which will continue true to the 
people as well as to its traditions, will be the domi- 
nant party of the future. My only aspiration is to 
faithfully perform the duties of the office to which 
the people of my State have called me, and I hope and 
trust that proud endeavour will light the way to a 
successful administration." 

He expressed himself in this speech in a more 
strongly partisan manner than he had possibly ever 
spoken before, but at the same time he made it clear 
that truth and duty would come before party. It was 
naturally expected by many of those who had been 
most active in securing his election that they would 
receive their reward. He pointed out to his party, 
however, that political services alone would not be 
sufficient to secure an office or to secure the passing 
of any measure. "I am unwilling," he said, in speak- 
ing of the general public, " knowingly to give my 
assent to measures purely partisan which will sacri- 
fice or endanger their interests." 

While he was a people's governor he at the same 
time showed that he was fair to capital. Vested in- 
terest had to be respected, and in several of his 
vetoes he placed himself in a position opposed to the 
popular will. One of the most striking of these in- 
stances was his veto on a bill which had passed the 
legislature reducing all fares on the line of the Man- 
hattan Railway Company between the Battery and 
Harlem Eiver to five cents. The company was a 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



345 



most unpopular one, and the action of the legislature 
was generally approved of. But in the face of this 
the governor unhesitatingly vetoed the bill. He did 
not do this, however, without very clearly stating his 
reason. He pointed out how difficult it had been to 
secure adequate rapid transit for the city of New 
York and it was only after many failures that capi- 
talists had succeeded in solving the problem. They 
had done so at much risk and expense and had not 
forfeited any of their rights. " It was," he said, 
" manifestly important that invested capital should 
be protected, and that its necessity and usefulness in 
the development of enterprises valuable to the people, 
should be recognised by conservative conduct on the 
part of the State government. 

" But we have especially in our keeping the hon- 
our and good faith of a great State, and we should 
see to it that no suspicion attaches, through any act of 
ours, to the fair fame of the Commonwealth." 

In 1884, an act was passed by the legislature to 
provide that all appointments made by the Mayor 
and confirmed by the Board of Alderman should 
henceforth be " made by the Mayor without such con- 
firmation." Governor Cleveland determined to sanc- 
tion this measure. Strong appeals were made to him 
to veto it. The measure was considered by many as 
an invasion of the popular rights, but once more he 
determined to act in opposition to the wish of the 
people. In doing so he said, " If the chief executive 
of the city is to be held responsible for its order and 
good government, he should not be hampered by any 
interference with his selection of subordinate admin- 
istration officers, nor should he be permitted to find in 
a divided responsibility an excuse for any neglect of 
the best interests of the people." 



346 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



In Mr. Cleveland's first message he gained the con- 
fidence of the people by the expression of his position 
on taxation and on civil service reform. He pro- 
nounced himself in favour of just taxation and of the 
appointment of subordinates upon fitness and effici- 
ency for pure government, and he further pointed 
out to the people that if local rule was u bad, weak or 
inefficient, those who suffer from mal-administration 
have the remedy within their own control." From 
the beginning he advocated civil service reform and 
in his second message to the legislature, January 1, 
1884, expressed himself as strongly as at the begin- 
ning of his term on this question as well as on 
taxation. 

" Strict economy," he said, " in the management of 
State affairs, by their agents, should furnish the peo- 
ple a good government at the least possible cost. This 
is common honesty. But to see to it that this cost is 
fairly and justly distributed and the burden equally 
borne by those who have no peaceful redress if the 
State is unjust, is the best attribute of sovereignty 
and the highest duty to the citizen. The recog- 
nition of this duty characterises a beneficient govern- 
ment; but its repudiation marks the oppression of 
tyrannical power 

" During the year the provisions of the Act passed 
by the last legislature to regulate and improve the 
civil service of the State have been put into opera- 
tion. Fortunately a commission was secured whose 
members were in hearty sympathy with the princi- 
ples of the law, and who possessed much practical 
knowledge of the needs of the public service. The 
commission itself was also fortunate in obtaining the 
services of Silas W. Burt as chief examiner, whose 
experience in public affairs and familiarity with the 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



347 



best methods of regulating the civil service enabled 
hirn to render invaluable assistance to the commission 
and the State. The preliminary classification and 
the forming of rules, contemplated by the Act gov- 
erning the appointments to place, having been com- 
pleted and received my approval, the system will 
become operative in respect to all State officers and 
in all State institutions on the fourth day of the 
present month. 

" The principle of selecting the subordinate em- 
ployees of the State on the ground of capacity and 
fitness ascertained according to fixed and impartial 
rules, without regard to political predilections, and 
with reasonable assurance of detention, and promo- 
tion in case of meritorious service, is now the estab- 
lished policy of the State." 

The substance of this message merely proved that 
he had been faithful to his trust, that he had kept 
the promises he made in his letter accepting the nom- 
ination. He had then said that subordinates should 
be selected and retained for their efficiency, that 
their tenure of office should depend upon their ability 
and merit and that the people should demand of 
them the best services that could be obtained for the 
money. 

While he was a people's governor he could, as has 
been pointed out, act in opposition to the wishes of 
the people, and, in one striking instance, against their 
prejudices. While he was governor a workman was 
killed on the construction work of the Capitol. The 
family of the unfortunate man was granted an appro- 
priation of $1,000. The family had no legal right 
to this sum and the governor vetoed the appropri- 
ation. His reason was that the people's money 
should be dealt with in the same way as the money 



348 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of any business concern. This act was of course used 
against him in his presidential campaign. His 
enemies forgot to tell, however, that he was one of 
the first to subscribe liberally out of his own pockeV 
to the bereaved family. 

He was in reality the champion of the labouring 
classes and strove in season and out of season to live 
up to the policy of the Democratic party of the State : 
" that labour should be made free, healthful, and se- 
cure of just remuneration ; that convict labour should 
not come into competition with the industry of law- 
abiding citizens. That the labour of children should 
be surrounded with such safeguards as their health, 
their rights of education and their future, as useful 
members of the community demand ; that workshops 
whether large or small, should be under such sanitary 
control as will insure the health and comfort of the 
employed and will protect all against unwholesome 
labour and surroundings; that labour shall have the 
same rights as capital to combine for its own protec- 
tion, and that all legislation which cramps industry 
or which enables the powerful to oppress the weak, 
should be repealed, and, to promote the interests of 
labour, we recommend the collection of statistics and 
information respecting the improvements, needs 
and abuses of the various branches of industry." 

Governor Cleveland lived up to this platform and, 
while he made enemies among the labouring classes, 
on account of his independent attitude, won the es- 
teem and confidence of their leaders. 

During his term as governor a young assemblyman 
came forward in his efforts to reform the government 
of New York City. This young man was Theodore 
Roosevelt, the present President of the United 
States. In his efforts he received the strongest sup- 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



349 



port of the governor, and it was at this time that the 
fight began which ultimately ended in the effectual 
crushing of Tammany. 

Governor Cleveland won the admiration of the 
best men in the State, and became widely recognised 
as the wisest governor New York ever had. Presi- 
dents of Universities, business men of repute and 
others wrote to him congratulating him on the wis- 
dom of his measures and approving of many of his 
vetoes. He had become to some extent a national 
figure as mayor of Buffalo, but as governor of New 
York he became infinitely more so, and although he 
had been in no sense of the word an active politician, 
the Democratic leaders soon began to recognise in 
him a possible candidate for the office of President. 

It would be no easy matter to elect a Democratic 
President, and if any man could be successful it 
would be the Reform Governor of New York. To win 
the country it would be necessary to win New York 
State, and no one was more likely to do this than 
the man who for two years had fearlessly acted in 
the interests of economy, justice and good govern- 
ment, — at once the friend of capital and of labour. 



350 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEK XXI. 
president grover Cleveland {Continued). 

Affairs had reached such a pitch in the United 
States that the best men of the country of all parties 
felt that it was time for a change. The Republican 
party had grown incurably corrupt and the nation 
feared that, if Mr. James Blaine, the choice of the 
party, were elected to the Executive the corrup- 
tion instead of lessening would only be increased. 
There was no more active partisan in the country, 
and his aim had ever been to hold power by the ordi- 
nary political and unscrupulous methods. When the 
Democratic National Convention met in Chicago, 
it was soon evident that Grover Cleveland would be 
the choice of the party. He had won the esteem of 
many of the best minds of the Republican party and 
with their strength added to the ordinary Demo- 
cratic vote it was thought that he would be able to 
carry the country. As a consequence he received 
683 votes on the second ballot, and his nomination 
was then made unanimous. 

His letter of acceptance was characteristic of the 
man. In it he divests himself almost entirely of 
party bias and stands for truth and good government. 

" The party and its representatives," he said, 
" which ask to be entrusted at the hands of the 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



351 



people with the keeping of all that concerns their 
welfare and safety should only ask it with the full 
appreciation of the sacredness of the trust and with 
a firm resolve to administer it faithfully and well. 
I am a Democrat because I believe that this truth 
lies at the foundation of true democracy. I have 
kept the faith because I believe, if rightly and fairly 
administered and applied, democratic doctrines and 
measures will insure the happiness, contentment, and 
prosperity of the people. 

" If, in the contest upon which we now enter, we 
steadfastly hold to the underlying principles of our 
party creed, and at all times keep in view the people's 
good, we shall be strong, because we are true to our- 
selves and because the plain and independent voters 
of the land will seek by their suffrages to compass 
their release from party tyranny where there should 
be submission to the popular will, and their pro- 
tection from party corruption where there should be 
devotion to the people's interests. These thoughts 
lend a consecration to our cause, and we go forth 
not merely to gain a partisan advantage, but pledged 
to give to those who trust us the utmost benefits of 
a pure and honest administration of national affairs. 
]^o higher purpose or motive can stimulate us to 
supreme effort or urge us to continuous and earnest 
labour and effective party organisation. Let us not 
fail in this, and we may confidently hope to reap a 
full reward of patriotic services well performed." 

There were four candidates in the field, Mr. James 
G. Blaine of Maine, Republican; Mr. Benjamin F. 
Butler of Massachusetts, Labour and Greenback can- 
didate ; John P. St. John of Kansas, Prohibition 
candidate; and Grover Cleveland, Democrat. The 
fight, however, was between Governor Cleveland and 



352 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Mr. Blaine. On the part of the Kepublicans it was 
waged with a good deal of bitterness; they saw the 
strength of the man opposed to them and they endeav- 
oured by every means, fair and foul, to defeat him. 
They did not hesitate to use the strained feeling still 
existing between the North, and the South to help 
them defeat their opponents. The Democrats were 
the friends of the South ; to give the government into 
their hands would be to place the men who tried to 
tear the Union asunder in power. Mr. Blaine was of 
all Republicans the most ungenerous to the Demo- 
crats. However, their campaign had but little force ; 
such men as Henry Ward Beecher and George Will- 
iam Curtis, and such papers as Harper s Weekly, 
The Times and The Post stood by the man who had 
done so much for the State of New York. 

Harper s Weekly well voiced the feeling of 
the best men in the State when it said of the 
governor : u His name has become that of the espe- 
cial representative among our public men of the 
integrity, purity, and economy of administration 
which are the objects of the most intelligent and 
patriotic citizens. The bitter and furious hostility 
of Tammany Hall and of General Butler to 
Cleveland is his passport to the confidence of good 
men, and the general conviction that Tammany will 
do all it can to defeat him will be an additional 
incentive to the voters who cannot support Mr. 
Blaine, and who are unwilling not to vote at all, to 
secure the election of a candidate whom the political 
rings and the party traders instinctively hate and 
unitedly oppose 

" The nomination of Governor Cleveland is due 
not so much to the preference of his party as to the 
general demand of the country for a candidacy which 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



353 



stands for precisely the qualities and services which 
are associated with his name." 

As a result of this strong support the Democrats 
carried the country. Perhaps it is hardly just to say 
that it was as a result of this support, it was rather 
due to the methods adopted by Governor Cleveland's 
opponents in their canvass against him. Attacks 
were made on his personal character. He was de- 
nounced as an enemy of the labouring man largely 
on account of his action on the five cent fare bill. 
The cry, too, was raised, through the lack of wisdom 
of one £>r. Burchard, that the Democratic party was 
synonymous with " Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." 
They were hoisted with their own petard ; the 
injustice of this cry gave Governor Cleveland many 
Republicans who very probably would have refrained 
altogether from voting. It was due to it very largely 
that New York State was carried by the Democrats, 
and the winning of IsTew York State meant the win- 
ning of the country. When the vote was counted 
Cleveland had 4,874,986, Blaine 4,851,981, Butler 
175,370, St. John 150,369, and Cleveland received 
219 electoral votes to Blaine's 182. 

During the heated campaign Governor Cleveland 
had continued to work quietly in his office at Albany. 
The abuse that was heaped upon him he ignored 
with a dignity and reserve that gained him many 
friends and admirers, and after his election he con- 
tinued to maintain the same reserve, refusing to let 
the world at large know what course he intended to 
pursue; although before his inauguration in March 
he expressed himself once more strongly in favour of 
civil service reform and against increased silver 
coinage. 

In January he resigned the governorship into the 
23 



354: PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



hands of Mr. D. B. Hill the deputy-governor, and 
on March 4 the inaugural celebrations took place. 
There was great rejoicing in the South over the 
return of the Democrats to power. It was, indeed, 
a triumph for the solid South, and thousands who 
had keep away from the Capital since the war now 
visited it to take part in the inaugural parade, in 
which, it is said, there were over 100,000 people. 

It had long been the custom of the presidents to 
deliver a written address, but Grover Cleveland 
decided to be an exception to the rule. He was an 
orator of considerable power and thought that his 
words would have greater force if spoken to the 
assembled multitude. As in his previous utterances 
he aimed at laying before his country noble ideals ; 
truth, justice, economy, were the burden of his 
speech on this occasion. 

" In the discharge of my official duty," he said, 
" I shall endeavour to be guided by a just and un- 
strained construction of the Constitution, a careful 
observance of the distinction between the powers 
granted to the Federal government and those reserved 
to the States or to the people, and by a cautious 
appreciation of those functions which by the Con- 
stitution and laws have been especially assigned to 
the Executive branch of the government 

"It is the duty of those serving the people in pub- 
lic place to closely limit public expenditures to the 
actual needs of the government, economically 
administered, because this bounds the right of the 
government to exact tribute from the earnings of 
labour or the property of the citizen, and because 
public extravagance begets extravagance among the 
people. We should never be ashamed of the sim- 
plicity and prudential economy which are best suited 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



355 



to the operation of a Republican form of govern- 
ment and most compatible with the mission of the 
American people. Those who are selected for a 
limited time to manage public affairs are still of the 
people, and may do much by their example to encour- 
age consistently with the dignity of their official 
functions, that plain way of life which among their 
fellow citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and 
prosperity. 

" The genius of our institutions, the needs of our 
people in their home life, and the attention which is 
demanded for the settlement and development of 
the resources of our vast territory dictate the scru- 
pulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign 
policy commended by the history, the traditions, and 
the prosperity of our Republic. It is the policy of 
independence, favoured by our position and defended 
by our known love of justice and by our own power. 
It is the policy of peace suitable to our interests. It 
is the policy of neutrality, rejecting any share in for- 
eign broils and ambitions upon other continents and 
repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of 
Monroe, and of Washington, and of Jefferson — 
i Peace, Commerce, and honest friendship with all, 
nations, entangling alliance with none.' 

" The people demand reform in the administra- 
tion of the government and the application of busi- 
ness principles to public affairs. As a means to this 
end, civil service reform should be in good faith 
enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection 
from the incompetency of public employees who hold 
their places solely as the reward of partisan service, 
and from the corrupting influence of those who prom- 
ise and the vicious methods of those who expect such 
rewards ; and those who worthily seek public employ- 



356 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ment have the right to insist that merit and com- 
petency shall be recognised instead of party subservi- 
ency or the surrender of honest political belief 

" Our duties are practical and call for industrious 
application, an intelligent perception of the claims 
of public office, and, above all, a firm determination 
by united action, to secure to all the people of the 
land the full benefits of the best form of government 
ever vouchsafed to man. And let us not trust to 
human effort alone, but humbly acknowledging the 
power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides 
over the destiny of nations and who has at all times 
been revealed in our country's history, let us invoke 
His aid and His blessing on our labours." 

The cabinet he appointed was thoroughly Demo- 
cratic and an exceptionally able one. It was made 
up as follows: Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, 
Secretary of State ; Daniel Manning, of New York, 
Secretary of the Treasury; William Endicott, of 
Massachusetts, Secretary of War ; William C. Whit- 
ney, of New York, Secretary of the Navy; William 
F. Vilas of Wisconsin, Postmaster-General; Au- 
gustus H. Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney-General; 
Lucius Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, Secretary of the 
Interior. 

President Cleveland began his term with the 
intention of purifying the civil service. Many of the 
professional politicians supposed his utterances 
against rewarding partisans with offices were mere 
words to catch votes. They very soon, however, 
found that integrity was the note of their President. 
Many of the Democrats who had sacrificed much, 
and many who had expected much felt bitterly 
against President Cleveland when they found that 
they were not to be rewarded. At first, at any rate, 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



357 



he would have nothing to do with the " spoils system." 
While he came into conflict with the politicians, he, 
likewise, on the same question, soon found himself 
in opposition to the Senate. He made removals and 
appointments and when they demanded the papers 
dealing with these cases he refused to give them. He 
was, however, a strong-willed President and for the 
most part had his own way. 

In the West cattle-owners had intruded on the 
Indian lands in Oklahoma ; they had no legal right 
there and they were ordered to vacate the territory 
within forty days, and vacate it they did. Large 
tracts of government land had been given out to 
corporations and syndicates. This was a menace to 
the development of the country; homesteads were 
needed for the population that was ever flocking from 
foreign lands to the shores of the United States. 
President Cleveland and his government set them- 
selves to work to recover this land that had been 
recklessly distributed, and it is said that they suc- 
ceeded in reclaiming and restoring to the people over 
100,000,000 acres. 

In the first annual message the President urged 
on Congress the need of settling the North American 
Fisheries Question; but the main subject for con- 
sideration at this time was the reduction of import 
duties. He pointed out that the revenues were in 
excess of the actual needs of the government, and 
while he was no free trader in the English sense of 
the word, urged a reduction of the duties. While 
doing this he said, " We should also deal with the sub- 
ject in such a manner as to protect the interests of 
American labour, which is the capital of our working- 
men; its stability and proper remuneration furnish 
the most justifiable pretext for a protective policy." 



358 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



In his second message he dwelt with even greater 
emphasis on the same question, pointing out once 
more the large excess in the revenues of the country, 
and recommending the cheapening of the necessaries 
of life and the free entrance of raw material. 

During his second year the nation was rejoiced to 
learn that the bachelor President was to take to him- 
self a helpmate. On June 2, 1886, without any 
ostentation, which he believed would have been 
contrary to the spirit of Democracy, he was married 
to Frances Folsom, daughter of his former law part- 
ner of Buffalo, Oscar Folsom. Grover Cleveland was 
the first President married in the White House, and 
this wedding with a beautiful young bride cast a 
romance over the Executive Mansion. His wife 
proved an excellent first lady of the Republic, and 
did much to give tone to Washington society. 

These two years had been busy ones for the Presi- 
dent ; hundred of bills had come before him for his 
approval or disapproval, and to every one of them 
he gave close study. There was an effort made to pass 
many fraudulent claims for pensions and these the 
President sternly vetoed. During his entire term 
of office he vetoed over three hundred bills, the 
majority of which had to do with pensions. 

In October, 1886, he took a little relaxation from 
the drudgery of office. The South and West had 
stood nobly by him in his presidential election, and 
he now decided to pay that part of his country a visit. 
In the principal cities he was received with great 
enthusiasm, and everywhere he spoke with fervour 
for lofty Democratic ideals, and endeavoured to allay 
sectional differences and to bring about a united 
country in more than name. 

One of his most noteworthy vetoes during his first 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



359 



term was that on the Texas Seed Bill. An appropri- 
ation had passed both Houses for the distribution of 
seeds in Texas. He believed the bill to be contrary 
to law and not in the best interests of the country 
and while he deplored the drought in Texas which was 
the occasion of the passing of this bill he refused to 
sanction it. In doing so he gave the following 
reasons : " I can find no warrant for such an appropri- 
ation in the Constitution; and I do not believe that 
the power and duty of the general government ought 
to be extended to the relief of individual suffering 
which is in no manner properly related to the public 
service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard 
the limited mission of this power and duty should, I 
think, be steadfastly resisted to the end; that the 
lesson should be constantly enforced, that, though 
the people support the government, the government 
should not support the people." 

His greatest utterance, however, was in his mes- 
sage of December, 1887, — an utterance which did 
much to defeat him in the following year. He de- 
voted his entire message to the tariff question. There 
was still an enormous surplus of revenue over ex- 
penditure and this should be reduced. The needs of 
the war had occasioned a high tariff, but this tariff 
he considered was no longer needed, and pronounced 
in favour of ultimate free trade. The business men 
of the country cried out against it, and the practical 
men of his own party looked upon it as a most unwise 
utterance. However, it was a definite and coura- 
geous policy and though experience would seem to 
prove that it was not suited to his country, time may 
give a different verdict. 

The difficulties between England and the United 
States over the fisheries question — long standing dif- 



360 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ficulties that had caused a good deal of bitterness of 
feeling between England's great dependency Canada 
and the United States — were under consideration 
once more and a treaty was agreed upon on February 
15, 1888. This treaty was rejected by the Senate 
and the attempt at an amicable settlement of this 
question for which the President w T as largely respon- 
sible was used against him by his political opponents. 
He was accused by them of playing into the hands of 
England. 

However, he was still the first Democrat in the 
country. Despite his vetoes, despite his refusal to 
play into the hands of the professional politicians of 
his party, it was clear to all that no other Democratic 
leader could hope to carry the country, and so when 
the National Democratic Convention met at St. Louis 
in June, 1888, he received the nomination on the 
first ballot. 

He accepted the nomination and in doing so gave 
in a few pregnant sentences the state of affairs as he 
found them in the Council Chambers of the nation 
at Washington. 

" Four years ago I knew that our chief Executive 
office, if not carefully guarded, might drift little by 
little away from the people to whom it belonged, and 
become a perversion of all that it ought to be; but 
I did not know how much its moorings had already 
been loosened. 

" I knew four years ago how well devised were the 
principles of true Democracy for the successful opera- 
tion of a government by the people and for the peo- 
ple; but I did not know how absolutely necessary 
their application then was for the restoration to the 
people of their safety and prosperity. I knew then 
that abuses and extravagances had crept into the 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



361 



management of public affairs; but I did not know 
their numerous forms nor the tenacity of their 
grasp. I knew then something of the littleness of 
partisan obstruction ; but I did not know how bitter, 
how reckless and how shameless it could be." 

He was once more before the nation on his record. 
He had proved himself a wise President and a true 
one. He had been an indefatigable worker with an 
eye to the smallest details of the govermnent. 
Nothing seemed to escape him and his opponents 
could not accuse him of ever having winked at cor- 
ruption. He had lived up to the letter of his prom- 
ises and although he had not been able to make the 
civil service reforms he desired, he had done much to 
elevate and purify the tone of the entire political 
life of his country. 



362 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND. (Concluded). 

The struggle between the Republicans under the 
leadership of General Harrison and the Democrats 
under President Cleveland was a well fought one. 
The battle was mainly on the President's message of 
1887, and the one great issue of the campaign was 
tariff reform. The business men of the country were 
with the Republicans and subscribed liberally to the 
campaign fund. On the other hand the Democrats 
lacked organisation. The fight was hottest in Indi- 
ana, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Of 
these New Jersey and Connecticut went Democratic, 
but Indiana, Harrison's State, and New York which 
had elected Cleveland in 1884, went Republican; as 
a result Harrison had 233 electoral votes and Cleve- 
land 168, but of the popular vote Cleveland had 
5,540,390 and Harrison 5,439,853. 

Cleveland accepted his defeat with his usual calm- 
ness and began the practice of his profession in New 
York City. He did not, however, remain " blind, 
deaf and dumb " to the questions of the hour. On 
several public occasions he showed that he was still 
in politics and, in 1891, wrote a strong letter against 
a bill for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. 
This was a brave letter as it was written in the face 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



363 



of the fact that the bill had the support of the major- 
ity of his own party in Congress. His letter was 
received with enthusiasm by the nation, and it was 
a strong factor in re-electing him for President in 
1892. 

The great question before the country at the close 
of President Harrison's term was tariff reform. The 
McKinley bill had not had the effect that its sup- 
porters hoped for. There was a general rise in prices 
under it, but no rise in wages and the nation began 
to think that what was needed was the general reduc- 
tion in duties advocated in President Cleveland's 
message of 1887. Already there had been a reaction 
against high tariff, and, in 1890, the Republicans suf- 
fered severe defeat in the Congressional election. 
William McKinley of Ohio going down with the rest. 
The people it was believed were being robbed for the 
few, and the forces of labour were massed against 
capital. 

The Democrats saw that their chances of being re- 
turned to power were good, and they likewise saw 
that the one man in their party who had the confi- 
dence of the nation was Grover Cleveland. When 
the Democratic National Convention met at Chicago 
in June, 1892, he was nominated for the Presidency 
on the first ballot, and this in opposition to the dele- 
gates from his own State. In his letter of acceptance 
he said: 

" Tariff reform is still our purpose. Though we 
oppose the theory that tariff laws may be passed 
having for their object the granting of discriminating 
and unfair governmental aid to private ventures, we 
wage no exterminating war against any American in- 
terests. We believe a readjustment can be accom- 
plished, in accordance with the principles we profess, 



364 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



without disaster or demolition. We believe that the 
advantages of freer raw material should be accorded 
to our manufacturers, and we contemplate fair and 
careful distribution of necessary tariff burdens, rather 
than the precipitation of free trade." 

He was for sound money, for civil service reform, 5 
for reduced taxation, and on these questions he won 
a tremendous victory. There were four candidates in 
the field, but Cleveland had a substantial majority. 
The popular vote stood 5,553,142 for Cleveland, 
5,186,931 for Harrison, 1,300,128 for Weaver, 
leader of the " People's Party," and 268,361 for 
Bidwell, the prohibitionist representative. Of the 
electoral vote Cleveland received 276, General Harri- 
son 145, and Mr. Yv 7 eaver 23. 

Grover Cleveland had the honour of being the 
first President re-elected after an interim. 

In the cabinet he selected there were no represen- 
tatives from the cabinet of his first term, but it was 
made up of even stronger men. W alter Q. Gresham 
of Indiana, was his Secretary of State, John G. Car- 
lisle, of Kentucky, Secretary of the Treasury ; Daniel 
S. Lamont, of New York, Secretary of War ; Richard 
Olney, of Massachusetts, Attorney-General; Wilson 
S. Bissell, of New York, Postmaster-General ; Hilary 
A. Herbert, of Alabama, Secretary of the Navy; 
Hoke Smith, of Georgia, Secretary of the Interior, 
and J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, Secretary of 
Agriculture, a department which Mr. Cleveland had 
given cabinet rank during his first administration. 
In May, 1895, Judge Gresham died and was suc- 
ceeded by Attorney-General Olney whose place was 
taken by J udson Harmon of Ohio. In the same year 
Postmaster-General Bissell resigned and William L. 
Wilson of Virginia succeeded to his office. In the 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



365 



following year Secretary Smith resigned and David 
R. Francis of Missouri became Secretary of the 
Interior. 

President Cleveland entered upon power for his 
second term at a very critical moment in his country's 
history. It was at a time of general depression, the 
causes of which were deep in the past, and no tariff 
reform or currency legislation could have brought 
about immediate relief. At the same time he had 
left him from the Harrison government a legacy of 
foreign difficulties that required considerable wisdom 
to handle, and whichever way he acted offence would 
be given to a large portion of his people. 

On February 14, 1893, a treaty had been con- 
cluded between President Harrison and the com- 
missioners representing the provisional government of 
Hawaii annexing the islands to the United States, 
but President Harrison's term closed before the 
Senate had acted upon this treaty. President Cleve- 
land now withdrew the treaty from the Senate pend- 
ing an investigation of the situation in the islands. 
After thoroughly sifting the matter he concluded that 
the lawful government of Hawaii had been unjustly 
overthrown, and he informed Congress that he would 
not again submit the treaty of annexation to the 
Senate, and he expressed to the Queen and her sup- 
porters " his desire to aid in the restoration of the 
status existing before the lawless landing of the 
United States forces at Honolulu on January 16 
last, if such restoration could be effected upon terms 
providing for clemency as well as justice to all par- 
ties concerned." Honour and integrity were the 
grounds he took. 

" A man of true honour," he said, " protects the 
unwritten word which binds his conscience more 



366 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



scrupuously, if possible, than he does the bond, a 
breach of which subjects him to legal liabilities; and 
the United States, in aiming to maintain itself as 
one of the most enlightened of nations, would do its 
citizens gross injustice if it applied to its international 
relations any other than a high standard of honour 
and morality. On that ground the United States 
cannot properly be put in the position of countenanc- 
ing the wrong after its commission any more than in 
that of consenting to it in advance. On that ground 
it cannot allow itself to refuse to redress an injury 
inflicted through an abuse of power by officers clothed 
with its authority and wearing its uniform ; and on 
the same ground, if a feeble but trembling state is 
in danger of being robbed of its independence and its 
sovereignty by a misuse of the name and power of 
the United States, the United States cannot fail to 
vindicate its honour and its sense of justice by an 
earnest effort to make all possible reparation 

" By an act of war, committed with the participa- 
tion of a diplomatic representative of the United 
States and without authority of Congress, the gov- 
ernment of a feeble but friendly and confiding people 
has been overthrown. A substantial wrong has thus 
been done, which a due regard for our national char- 
acter as well as the rights of the injured people 
require we should endeavour to repair." 

The matter, however, was not by any means 
settled and on July 4, 1894, the Constitution of 
Hawaii was formally proclaimed by the revolutionary 
government with Mr. Dole as President. The 
United States Senate recognised the new republic 
and the President could take no further action. 

Another matter of international importance which 
arose during this term was the difficulties between 



G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



367 



Spain and the United States with regard to the rebel- 
lion which broke out in Cuba in 1895. The Cubans 
had many sympathisers in the United States, and 
efforts were made to send men, money, and provisions 
to the rebellious inhabitants of the islands. Presi- 
dent Cleveland no doubt personally sympathised with 
the oppressed people in their struggle for liberty, 
but he could not help viewing with concern the 
filibustering expeditions that were being fitted out 
in American ports. The neutrality laws had to be 
preserved, and the government sent war vessels to 
prevent filibusters from landing on the island. 
In this the government lacked the sympathy of the 
people, and was directly opposed by Congress which 
favoured a recognition by the United States of the 
insurgents as belligerents. In fact a resolution to 
this effect passed both Houses in April, 1896, but the 
President was firm and determined that his country 
should maintain an absolutely neutral attitude. It 
was during these two years that that wave of feeling 
for the oppressed Cubans rose in the United States, 
a wave which was not to decrease in volume until 
inevitable war broke out in 1898, and the Spaniard 
was driven from this continent. 

Perhaps the most interesting international situa- 
tion which arose between the United States and a for- 
eign power since the Alabama difficulty, was the 
Venezuela boundary question. Por many long years 
Venezuela had felt bitterly towards England on 
account of her land-grabbing in British Guiana. The 
initial stages of the trouble began when Sir Eobert 
Schomburgk, in 1840, visited Venezuela with author- 
ity to survey the colony. He had put up certain posts 
to aid him in making the survey and the Venezuelan 
government complained that these posts were erected 



368 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



on their territory. Lord Aberdeen concluded to have 
them removed, but did not thereby abandon the 
claim to the ground on which they were erected. 
Two years later discussions commenced between 
Great Britain and Venezuela with regard to the 
boundary. The Venezuelans claimed that their ter- 
ritory extended to the Essequibo. However, no defi- 
nite decision was reached at that time. In 1850, 
excitement on the question arose once more and the 
Venezuelans believed that England was making mili- 
tary preparations to enforce her claims in their 
country. The excitement was allayed, and the mat- 
ter rested there till 1876 when Venezuela once more 
pressed her claim. The dispute went on until 1883, 
when the English minister pressed for a settlement 
of the question. From the first the Venezuelans 
believed that they were right and proposed to the 
greater power that the matter should be settled by 
arbitration. In 1885, it looked as though the affair 
was to be amicably concluded. In that year an effort 
was made to arrange a treaty of commerce and an 
article with regard to the matter of arbitration was 
proposed by the Venezuelan minister and accepted 
by Lord Granville. This article was as follows: 

" If, as it is to be deprecated, there shall arise 
between the United States and Venezuela and the 
United Kingdom and Ireland any differences which 
cannot be adjusted by the usual means of friendly 
negotiation, the two contracting parties agree to sub- 
mit the decision of all such difficulties to the arbitra- 
tion of a third power or of several powers in amity 
with both, without resorting to war, and that the 
result of such arbitration shall be binding upon both 
governments. 

" The arbitrating power or powers shall be selected 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



369 



by the two governments by common consent ; failing 
which each of the parties shall nominate an arbitrat- 
ing power, and the arbitrators thus appointed shall 
be requested to select another power to act as umpire. 

" The procedure of the arbitration shall in each 
case be determined by the contracting party ; failing 
which the arbitrating power or powers shall be them- 
selves entitled to determine it beforehand." 

A change of ministry occurred in Great Britain, 
however, and the treaty was abandoned. 

Shortly after this the situation took on a more 
serious phase through the Venezuelan government 
making grants of land for colonisation in the disputed 
territory, and announcing its intention of erecting 
a lighthouse at Point Barima. They went farther 
than this; they ultimately claimed the whole water- 
shed of the River Barima, and demanded that Eng- 
land should evacuate it at once, and that the whole 
question should be submitted to arbitration. These 
demands were not complied with by England and 
friendly relations between the two countries were 
suspended in March, 1887. The Venezuelan govern- 
ment three years later again began to look towards 
arbitration, but, as Venezuela insisted on including 
in the scheme of arbitration the whole of the territory 
between the Essequibo and Orinoco, England refused 
to consider the matter. 

In 1893, through a hope expressed for the settle- 
ment of the differences in South America by arbi- 
tration in his message, President Cleveland called 
the attention of his country to the strained situation 
between England and Venezuela. It was not, how- 
ever, until 1895 that the United States was drawn 
into the dispute. In July of that year Mr. Olney, 
the Secretary of State, sent a dispatch to England 
24 



370 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of a character that did not a little to irritate the 
English government. It was a forcible dispatch, but 
lacked that diplomatic fineness that is ever in evi- 
dence between European powers. The Monroe Doc- 
trine was much to the fore, and the President and 
the people were with Mr. Olney. When Congress 
met in December, 1895, the President referred to 
the situation in the following words: 

" The boundary of British Guiana still remains in 
dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela. Be- 
lieving that its early settlement, on some just basis 
alike honourable to both parties, is in the line of our 
established policy to remove from this hemisphere all 
causes of difference with powers beyond the sea, I 
shall renew the efforts heretofore made to bring about 
a restoration of diplomatic relations between the dis- 
putants, and to induce a reference to arbitration, a 
resort which Great Britain so conspicuously favours 
in principle, and respects in practice and which is 
earnestly sought by her weaker adversary." 

The English government was not prepared to arbi- 
trate on the lines suggested by Venezuela, nor did 
Lord Salisbury recognise the Monroe Doctrine as 
international law. President Cleveland now went a 
step further and submitted the correspondence to Con- 
gress with a message which was practically a threat 
at Great Britain. He decided that a committee should 
be appointed to investigate the situation and that af- 
ter mature consideration the United States should 
make a further demand for arbitration. In his mes- 
sage he said with regard to this commission " that 
it shall make the necessary investigations, and report 
upon the matter with the least possible- delay. When 
such a report is made and accepted, it will, in my 
opinion, be the duty of the United States to resist, 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



371 



by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression 
upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by 
Great Britain of any lands, or the exercise of gov- 
ernmental jurisdiction over any territory, which, 
after investigation, we have determined of right to 
belong to Venezuela. 

" In making these recommendations, I am fully 
alive to the responsibility incurred, and keenly realise 
all the consequences which may follow. 

" I am nevertheless firm in my conviction that, 
while it is a grievous thing to contemplate the two 
great English speaking peoples of the world as being 
otherwise than friendly competitors in the onward 
march of civilisation, and strenuous and worthy rivals 
in all the arts of peace, there is no calamity which a 
great nation can invite which equals that which fol- 
lows a supine submission to wrong and injustice, and 
the consequent loss of national self-respect and hon- 
our, beneath which is shielded and defended a 
people's safety and greatness." 

This was a startling message : it astonished Europe 
and delighted the people of the United States. For 
a time it was thought that it would be impossible for 
England to back down from the position she had 
taken with regard to the Venezuelan boundary diffi- 
culty, and war was felt to be inevitable ; for the gov- 
ernment of the United States had now gone too far 
to change its mind. Congress was with the Presi- 
dent, the press was with him and the leading men 
of both parties congratulated him on the firm stand 
he had taken. To Europe it was " shirt sleeve diplo- 
macy," but it did its work. Lord Salisbury remained 
calm and dignified during the heated discussion 
which followed and gave no hint of his intentions 



372 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



while Congress authorized the appointment of a boun- 
dary commission. 

This commission was an able one, consisting of 
some of the wisest and fairest-minded and most cul- 
tured men in the United States. It was constituted 
as follows: Justice David J. Brewer, of the United 
States Supreme Court, Chief Justice Alvey, of the 
Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia; An- 
drew D. White, of New York ; Frederick R. Coudert, 
of JSTew York and Daniel C. Gilman, President of 
Johns Hopkins University. The commission col- 
lected evidence, but before it could make any report 
the popular clamour for arbitration in England made 
the government deem it wise to settle the matter in 
that way, thus tacitly recognising the contention of 
the United States with regard to the Monroe Doc- 
trine. On February 2, the Venezuela Arbitration 
Treaty was signed at Washington by Sir Julian 
Pauncefote for England and Minister Andrade for 
Venezuela and the following arbitrators were named : 
J ustice Brewer of the Supreme Court for the United 
States, Chief Justice Fuller for the Venezuelan gov- 
ernment and Lord Herschell and Justice Collins for 
Great Britain. 

Out of this question arose a desire for general 
arbitration on difficulties arising between England 
and the United States and such a treaty was signed 
by Secretary Olney and Sir Julian Pauncefote. It 
was sent to the Senate with the strong approval of 
President Cleveland, but by this time the President 
was genuinely hated by a majority in the Senate and 
as a result it failed to pass. 

The first year of the President's second term was 
an important one in the history of the century. In 
this year the great Columbian Exposition was held at 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



373 



Chicago, and was formally opened by the President 
on May 1. It was attended by millions of people 
who were enraptured with the White City and who 
viewed with wonder the evidences of the vast progress 
their country had made. Here, too, the nations of 
the world met to rejoice with the people of the United 
States, but in the midst of this rejoicing a cry went 
up for bread, there was poverty in the land, extreme 
poverty, and tens of thousands even in the city where 
the celebration was being held were homeless, and 
throughout the country at large recruits were prepar- 
ing for Coxey's famous army of tramps. 

What were the causes of this deplorable state of 
affairs in a country of such vast resources ? Accord- 
ing to some over-production, to others the high tariff 
introduced by the McKinley Bill, but to President 
Cleveland the cause was to be found in the iniquitous 
legislation affecting the currency of the country. 
Whatever were the causes, the gold reserve was rapid- 
ly diminishing, silver was accumulating in the treas- 
ury, and government expenditure was exceeding the 
revenue. As a result of this state of affairs there 
was a panic throughout the country ; banks suspended 
payment and business generally was paralysed. It 
was necessary for the President to grapple with the 
situation, and he went fearlessly to work. 

The Sherman Act of 1890 was generally looked 
upon as largely responsible for the business situation 
and the President advocated a repeal of this Act. 
He declared that the unfortunate financial plight was 
principally chargeable to Congressional legislation 
touching the purchase and coinage of silver by the 
general government. There was no confidence in the 
nation's policy at home and no respect for it abroad. 
A sound .and staple currency was a necessity. The 



374 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



United States with its rapidly growing interests 
should have money that would be respected in every 
market of the world. The strenuous efforts of the 
President caused the Sherman Act to be repealed in 
the House, but he met with a determined resistance in 
the Senate. The silver men of the West were 
naturally strongly opposed to repeal and everything 
conceivable was done to block the passage of the bill. 
A compromise was agreed on in the Senate, but on 
this matter President Cleveland would have no com- 
promise, and although he made enemies of many of 
his ablest Democratic supporters he stood firm for the 
unconditional repeal of the Sherman Act. It was a 
difficult task to overcome the opposition in the Senate, 
but the people were for the most part with the Presi- 
dent and the House and the Senators at length gave 
way and the Repeal Bill became law, November 1, 
1892. 

The campaign of 1892 had been fought out along 
the lines of tariff revision, and to keep its pledge to 
the people the government had to give its attention 
to this important matter. In the President's mes- 
sage in December, 1893, he pointed out that tariff 
revision was the most important matter claiming the 
attention of the government, even more important 
than the currency. The two main points he advo- 
cated were, a reduction in the present tariff charges 
upon the necessaries of life and the removal of re- 
strictions upon the importation of raw materials used 
in American factories. If the United States desired 
to become an exporting country, cheap raw materials 
were needful. But while advancing these ideas he 
was careful to point out that where money had been 
invested in reliance on the policy of Congress care 
should be taken to guard the interests concerned. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



375 



The Committee of Ways and Means framed a tariff 
bill along the line suggested by the President, and 
this bill, the Wilson Bill, passed the House, Feb- 
ruary 1, 1894. The Senate once more stood in the 
way and amended it greatly in the direction of higher 
duties. When after months of discussion it passed 
the Senate by a small majority it bore but a very 
slight resemblance to the original bill. In August, 
1894, the amended bill passed both Houses and be- 
came law without the signature of the President. 
President Cleveland deeply deplored what he con- 
ceived to be a falling away from true Democratic 
principles ; besides his party had broken the pledges 
made to the electors during the campaign. How 
deeply he felt can be gathered from the letter which 
he addressed on this subject to Mr. Wilson, Chair- 
man of the Committee of Ways and Means, who in- 
troduced the bill to the House. 

" My public life has been so closely related to the 
subject, I have so longed for its accomplishment, and 
I have so often promised its realisation to my fellow- 
countrymen as a result of their trust and confidence 
in the Democratic party, that I hope no excuse is 
necessary for my earnest appeal to you that in this 
crisis you strenuously insist upon party honesty, and 
good faith, and a sturdy adherence to Democratic 
principles. 

" I believe these are absolutely necessary con- 
ditions to the continuation of Democratic existence. 
I cannot rid myself of the feeling that this conference 
will present the best, if not the only hope of true 
Democracy. Indications point to its action as the 
reliance of those who desire the genuine fruition 
of Democratic effort; the fulfilment of Democratic 
pledges, and the redemption of Democratic promises 



376 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



to the people. To reconcile differences in the details 
comprised within the fixed and well defined lines of 
principle, will not be the sole task of the conference, 
but, as it seems to me, its members will also have in 
charge the question whether Democratic principles 
themselves are to be saved or abandoned. 

" There is no excuse for mistaking or misappre- 
hending the feeling and temper of the rank and file 
of the Democracy. They are downcast under the as- 
sertion that their party fails in ability to manage 
the government, and they are apprehensive to bring 
about tariff reform which may fail; but they are 
much more downcast and apprehensive in their fear 
that Democratic principles may be surrendered." 

The President gave the following reason for refus- 
ing to affix his signature to the amended Wilson Bill : 

" I take my place with the rank and file of the 
Democratic party who believe in tariff reform and 
well know what it is, who refuse to accept the re- 
sults embodied in this bill as the close of the war, 
who are not blinded to the fact that the livery of 
Democratic reform has been stolen and worn in the 
service of Republican protection, and who have 
marked the places where the deadly blight of treason 
has blasted the counsels of the brave in their hour of 
might. The trusts and combinations — the commun- 
ism of pelf — whose machinations have prevented us 
from reaching the success which we deserve, should 
not be forgotten nor forgiven." 

The depression continued in the country and larger 
deficits followed. The President recommended still 
further reform of the banking and currency laws, 
but Congress was not with him. How much he was 
out of touch with Congress is shown by a river and 
harbour bill which sanctioned much extravagant and 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 



377 



unnecessary expenditure. This bill was passed over 
the President's veto. There was general chaos in the 
country, but through it all the Executive remained 
firm and true to principle. 

He was tested in many ways and ever proved him- 
self strong. The employees of the Pullman Car 
Company struck work, and as a result riots prevailed 
in Illinois. The Governor of Illinois, Mr. Altgeld, 
acted with a lack of firmness which would almost 
make one suspect him of being in sympathy with the 
strikers. The railways were boycotted and the post- 
masters in Chicago appealed to the Federal govern- 
ment for help and Mr. Cleveland sent troops to Chi- 
cago against the protest of Mr. Altgeld. His firm- 
ness in this critical situation caused the strike to 
suddenly terminate. 

The time for once more nominating a candidate 
for President came round and Mr. Cleveland had no 
hope of a renomination. Apart from the general 
antipathy in the country to any man occupying the 
Presidency for a third term, he had made enemies 
of an exceedingly influential wing of the Democratic 
party. The silver men of the West were opposed to 
him. He continued vigorously to denounce the free 
silver movement, and was the recognised leader of 
the gold standard wing of the Democratic party. He 
was in a very decided minority, and William J. 
Bryan, the silver-tongued orator from Nebraska, was 
nominated for President. 

After the inauguration of William McKinley, 
President Cleveland once more took up the life of an 
ordinary citizen of the United States. He still con- 
tinues to represent what is highest and best in De- 
mocracy, and the time may yet come when his party 
will be forced to call him again to its leadership. 



378 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



While in power he did much for the country; he 
brought it back to a sound currency, thus paving the 
way for the prosperity under President McKinley; 
he made more genuine civil service reforms than any 
other President, and by his firmness in international 
matters launched his country on a new career. From 
the time he asserted the Monroe Doctrine with re- 
gard to the Venezuela situation the United States 
has been a most decided factor in world politics. It 
is true he lacked diplomatic fineness, and was more or 
less stubborn and self-willed, but he was the tool of no 
man or party and strove to live up to the letter of his 
pledges. That he was unable to keep faith with the 
country was due to the selfishness of the representa- 
tives of the people in Congress. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



379 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

president benjamin harrison. 
(One Administration, 1889-1893.) 

The biographers of the presidents of the United 
States have had some little difficulty in proving that 
the subjects of their study were descended from noble 
ancestors. In one or two instances, such as Abraham 
Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, they have failed hope- 
lessly, and in several others have made out very 
doubtful cases. 

With regard to Benjamin Harrison, the twenty- 
third President of the United States, they have had, 
however, very little difficulty in making out a good 
case. He was of fine old Virginia stock — Puritan 
stock at that — which had been formed in the school 
of Cromwell. His first Virginian ancestor was a 
cousin of Major-General Thomas Harrison, one of 
Cromwell's generals, and a trusted one. It was 
Thomas Harrison who conveyed King Charles L 
from Hurst to Windsor Castle, and afterwards from 
Windsor Castle to Whitehall for trial. He, too, sat 
as one of his judges and his name is affixed to the 
king's death warrant. On the restoration he was one 
of the regicides who was executed by the Royalists. 
Samuel Pepys thus wrote of his execution in his 
famous Diary: 



380 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



" I went out to Charing Cross to see Major-Gen- 
eral Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; it was 
done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could 
do in that condition." 

When the old Puritan was mounting the scaffold a 
stander-by remarked " where is your good old cause 
now ? " " Here it is," said Harrison, smiting him- 
self upon the breast, " and I am going to seal it with 
my blood." His speech on the scaffold was a remark- 
able one and a few words from it will show where 
the Harrisons of Virginia received their godly char- 
acters and their ardent love of liberty. 

" And though," he said, " I am wrongly charged 
with murder and bloodshed, yet I must tell you I 
have kept a good conscience both toward God and 
toward man. I never had malice against any man 
neither did I act maliciously towards any person, but 
as I judged them to be enemies to God and to His 
people ; and the Lord is my witness that I have done 
what I did out of the sincerity of my heart to the 
Lord. I bless God I have no guilt upon my con- 
science, but the spirit of God bears witness that my 
actions are acceptable to the Lord, through Jesus 
Christ; though I have been compassed about with 
manifold infirmities, failings, and imperfections in 
my holiest duties, but in this I have comfort and 
consolation, that I have peace with God, and do see 
all my sins washed away in the blood of my dear Sav- 
iour. And I do declare as before the Lord, that I 
should not be guilty wittingly, nor willingly, of the 
blood of the meanest man, — no, not for ten thousand 
worlds, much less of the blood of such as I am charged 
with. 

" I have again and again besought the Lord with 
tears to make known His will and mine unto me 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



381 



concerning it, and to this day hath rather confirmed 
me in the justice of it, and, therefore, I leave it to 
Him, and to Him I commit my ways ; but some that 
were eminent in the work did wickedly turn aside 
themselves and to set up their nests on high, which 
caused great dishonour to the name of God and to 
the profession they had made. And the Lord knows 
I could have suffered more than this, rather than have 
fallen in with them in that iniquity, though I was 
offered what I would if I would have joined with 
them ; my aim in all my proceedings was the glory 
of God and the good of His people and the welfare 
of the whole Commonwealth." 

It was one Benjamin Harrison, a cousin of the 
regicide, who emigrated to America and settled in 
Surrey County, Virginia. A son, Benjamin, was 
born to him and when this child reached man's estate 
he married Hannah Churchill of the Churchill fam- 
ily, to which belonged the Duke of Marlborough and 
which is still represented by the illustrious war-cor- 
respondent and British member of parliament, Win- 
ston Churchill. For several generations the name 
Benjamin was handed on from father to son until we 
reach the celebrated Benjamin, the Harrison of the 
Revolution. His brother Charles was a general of 
artillery during the Revolutionary War and he him- 
self was one of the ablest minds controlling the des- 
tinies of his country at that time. He was a member 
of the Virginia House of Burgesses and afterwards 
sat in the first colonial Congress. It was he to whom 
was entrusted the duty of reporting the Resolution of 
Independence to Congress, and his name appears as 
a signer to the Declaration of Independence. From 
1777 to 1781 he was President of the Virginia House 
of Burgesses and was three times elected Governor 



382 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of Virginia. He was likewise a member of the con- 
vention that ratified the Constitution of the United 
States. For those who delight in ancestry hunting 
it may be interesting to know that Benjamin Har- 
rison the President of the United States was like- 
wise descended from the celebrated Pocahontas. 

To Benjamin Harrison of the Be volution was born 
a son, William Henry Harrison, who was afterwards 
to rise to the Presidential chair. When this lad grew 
to manhood he decided to take up the medical pro- 
fession but the exciting times on the frontier attracted 
him to the army, and, although naturally a student 
and far from being strong, made application and, in 
April, 1791, was commissioned an ensign in the 
First Begiment of the United States artillery. He 
rose rapidly in the army and when he left it he was 
appointed Governor of the Territory of Indiana. 
He made an able administrator, and at Tippecanoe 
with his militia defeated the warriors of chief Te- 
cumseh. After this he distinguished himself in the 
War of 1812 in Canada, defeating General Proctor 
at the battle of the Thames, in which battle Tecumseh 
was slain. His son John Scott Harrison, born at 
Vincennes, Indiana Territory was twice married, his 
second wife, Elizabeth Irwin, being the mother of 
Benjamin Harrison, the subject of this sketch. 

This lad was born, August 20, 1833, at North 
Bend, Ohio, at that time the family home of General 
William Henry Harrison. The advantages for edu- 
cation in Ohio were poor and young Benjamin re- 
ceived the rudiments of his education at the hands 
of tutors and in a little log cabin which was converted 
into a temporary schoolhouse. When seven years old 
the country was swept by the exciting campaign of 
1840 which resulted in the election of his grandfather 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



383 



for President. Although a young lad his mind must 
have been influenced by that struggle, and the cry, 
" the gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe," must have 
done not a little to shape the current of his ambition. 
In his Ohio home, too, he, no doubt, became familiar 
with the names of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, 
who were among the sturdiest of the Whigs who then 
led their party to victory. In early life, at least, he 
was an ardent admirer of Webster, and on one occa- 
sion when an Abolitionist made a characteristic 
speech against the golden-tongued Whig, young Har- 
rison, then but seventeen, made a vigorous reply in 
his defense. 

When fifteen years old he went to Farmers (now 
Belmont) College, at College Hill, a short distance 
from Cincinnati. At seventeen he became a student 
at Miami University. While here he made several 
friendships that were to influence the course of his 
life. Oliver P. Morton, Governor of Indiana at the 
time of the Civil war and under whom he took ser- 
vice, was at that time a student at this college ; so, 
too, were W. P. Fishback his law partner, and the 
eloquent preacher, Professor David Swing. Accord- 
ing to Professor Swing, while at Miami he was a 
diligent student possessed of great power of concen- 
tration which enabled him " to grapple any subject 
on short notice." 

He was by birth a Whig and an ardent protection- 
ist. With the Whig defeat of 1852 and the disap- 
pearing of the Whig party from history he became a 
Republican, but a protectionist he remained until 
the end of his days. In 1844 the Whig platform was 
formulated in the convention which met at Baltimore 
on May 1, and to this platform he for the most part 



384 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



adhered during the course of his life. It was as 
follows : 

" A well regulated currency; a tariff for revenue 
to defray the necessary expenses of the government, 
and discriminating with special reference to the pro- 
tection of the domestic labour of the country; the 
distribution of proceeds from the sale of public lands ; 
a single term for the Presidency ; a reform of execu- 
tive usurpations ; and, generally such an administra- 
tion of the affairs of the country as shall impart to 
every branch of the public service the greatest prac- 
tical efficiency, controlled by well regulated and wise 
economy." 

Benjamin Harrison graduated from Miami Uni- 
versity, fourth in his class, in 1852. He had while 
at college won considerable distinction as a ready de- 
bater. As soon as he left college he began the study 
of law with Storer and Gwynne of Cincinnati. 

While at Miami a friendship with the daughter of 
one of his teachers at Farmer's College, Doctor John 
Witherspoon Scott, ripened into love and before he 
had completed his law studies he married Carolina 
L. Scott, — a courageous step, but one that must have 
somewhat shocked his friends. He was of course 
unable to provide a home for his wife, and until he 
was admitted to the Bar they lived at North Bend. 
This was in 1852 ; in the spring of 1854 an aunt died 
and left him a bequest of $800. It was not much, 
but it enabled him to set out for Indianapolis with his 
wife to begin there the practice of the law. It is hard 
to say just why he selected Indianapolis. ~No doubt 
he was attracted to Indiana by the influence his 
grandfather, who was the first governor of the State, 
had had in organising it. At that time Indianapolis 
was an exceedingly small town, but a growing one. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



385 



The young couple managed to find a comfortable 
home of three rooms for which they paid $6.00 a 
month and in this home their struggle began. 

Practice came slowly and a $5.00 fee, and that not 
very often, was the highest sum he earned for many 
months. He, however, received the position of Court 
Crier and this helped him not a little. In 1855, he 
formed a partnership with William Wallace, which 
lasted for some six years. Wallace's words with 
regard to this struggle period of Harrison's life are 
not uninteresting. " He was poor. The truth is, it 
was a struggle for bread and meat with both of us. 
He had a noble young wife, who cheerfully shared 
with him the plainest and simplest style of living. 
He did the work about his home for a long time him- 
self, and thus made his professional income, not 
large, keep him independent and free from debt." 

He first became known in Indiana as an active pol- 
itician in 1856. His ability as a speaker was rec- 
ognised and he was frequently called upon to work 
on behalf of the new Republican party in its first 
campaign. Although his party was defeated until 
I860, in every State and local campaign he took an 
active part, and was ever a vigorous upholder of the 
Union. He carefully studied the situation at the 
time of the Kansas-Nebraska difficulty, and was pre- 
paring himself for the struggle which he saw was 
inevitable. 

Just before the breaking out of the Civil war he 
had purchased a house for which he was to pay in 
instalments. When the war broke out and the call 
went up for men he would have liked to join the 
ranks, but was kept from enlisting for various 
reasons. He had his duty towards his home ; he had 
just been elected reporter of the Supreme Court of 



386 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Indiana, and his house had to be paid for; besides, 
he thought, as did many at that time, that a short 

three months, the time for which the call was made, 
would end the war. For the same reasons he resisted 
the call made by President Lincoln in July, 1861, 
and over a year was to elapse before he found the 
voice of duty so strong within him that he could hold 
back no longer. 

On the 2nd of July, 1862, things looked so bad 
for the Union that President Lincoln sent up a call 
for 300,000 more men. In Indiana, remote from the 
seat of war, but little response was made to this call. 
Governor Morton, an enthusiast for the Union, de- 
spaired of being able to raise the number of troops 
requested from his State. To his friend and college 
mate Benjamin Harrison, he said, "there is abso- 
lutely no response to Mr. Lincoln's last call for troops. 
The people do not appear to realise the necessities of 
the situation. Something must be done to break the 
spirit of apathy and indifference which now prevails. 
See here! look at those workmen across the street, 
toiling to put up a new building, as if such things 
could be possible when the country itself is in danger 
of destruction." 

These words roused Harrison. He at once said 
he felt sure he could raise a regiment and added that 
if he made a recruiting speech and asked any man to 
enlist he proposed to go with him, and stay with him 
as long as he stayed, if he lived so long. Without 
even returning to his home to consult with his wife, 
he at once began his work, converting his law office 
into a recruiting station. His enthusiasm was con- 
tagious and in a very short time the whole 70th 
Regiment was recruited. 

On the 14th of July he was mustered into service 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



387 



as Second Lieutenant; on the 22nd, as Captain; and 
on the 7th of August, as Colonel of the Kegiment. 
In a month after the enrolment, the 70th was in 
Kentucky and ready for action. It was as raw a 
regiment as ever commander took into the field. 
However, Colonel Harrison went at his work indus- 
triously, and very soon by constant drill had it in 
fairly good shape. Fortunately it was detailed for a 
time in skirmishing through Kentucky and Tennessee 
as a part of the Army of the Cumberland. By the 
time it was called into any decisive battle both leader 
and soldiers were veterans. 

It was not until May of 1864 that the 70th exper- 
ienced heavy fighting. It was with the 20th army 
corps on the " march through Georgia " and, at 
Kocky Face Kidge and Besaca, Benjamin Harrison 
had an opportunity of proving that he was not an 
unworthy descendant of the Harrisons of the Revo- 
lution and of " Tippecanoe." The Union forces 
were endeavouring to reach Besaca, but a rebel bat- 
tery stationed on a hilltop checked their advance. 
It was necessary that that battery should be silenced. 
Upon Harrison fell the duty of leading his men 
against it. A pine wood intervened between the 
troops and the battery on the hill, and in order to 
locate it accurately and unmask the guns he went 
forward with an aide-de-camp to view the ground. 
When they were observed the guns opened fire upon 
them. He turned to his troops and shouted his fa- 
vorite command, " Come on, Boys ! " They gallant- 
ly charged forward until the outer line of the Confed- 
erates was reached, and then a fierce hand to hand 
fight took place. The Union forces were successful 
and a number of the enemy were taken prisoners. 
Night fell, however, and the work of finally seizing 



388 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



the battery had to be delayed till morning. The 
charge had been a gallant but an expensive one ; fully 
a third of Harrison's force had fallen in their efforts 
to reach the guns. When morning broke the Union 
generals scanned the hill-top and made ready to finish 
the work of the previous day, but the enemy saw that 
they could not hold out and had withdrawn in the 
darkness. 

After the fight the march continued towards At- 
lanta, and at every stage in the march Harrison did 
valiant work. The following interesting paragraph 
written by one who followed him on this march shows 
that at that time there was in him a good deal of the 
spirit that animated the old Puritan of Cromwell's 
day. 

" One scene has always lived in my memory. Our 
old chaplain Allen, a man who was beloved by all the 
boys, and for whom almost every man in the regiment 
would have given his life, conducted services on Sun- 
day with Colonel Harrison, as he was then, and Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Sam Merrill assisting. I have often 
heard General Harrison offer up the prayer for the 
boys' welfare and protection down there on those 
Southern fields, so far away from home, and many 
times have heard him address the boys in place of the 
chaplain. Never to my knowledge, in all the trying 
times of war, did I ever see one thing from him un- 
becoming a Christian. I think the battle-field and 
the camp bring out what there is in a man about as 
well as anything can, and I have seen General Har- 
rison tested in every way. As a soldier, courageous, 
sympathetic, and enduring, the army had no better." 

He distinguished himself in the battle of Chicka- 
mauga ; but it was not until the 20th of July, when 
the battle of Peach Tree Creek was fought, that he 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



389 



was brought prominently before the notice of the au- 
thorities. On this day General Hooker's army was 
in serious danger, Colonel Harrison grasped the sit- 
uation and calling out to his force which was in re- 
serve, " Come on, Boys ! " charged up the hill fol- 
lowed by his men. They came in contact with the 
Confederates who were crouching behind the fence 
waiting to receive them. Into the line they dashed 
and after a fierce fight of over half an hour succeeded 
in repulsing the enemy. Harrison's courage had won 
the day, but he paid dearly for it ; over two hundred 
men of his brigade fell in the short, sharp struggle. 
On the following day General Hooker as he rode 
along the line congratulated him on his excellent 
work and declared that he would have him made a 
brigadier-general. Three months later the General 
wrote the following letter to the Hon. E. M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War: 

" I desire to call the attention of the department to 
the claims of Colonel Benjamin Harrison, of the 70th 
Indiana Volunteers, for promotion to the rank of 
brigadier-general. 

" Colonel Harrison first joined me in command of 
a brigade of Ward's Division in Lookout Valley, pre- 
paratory to entering upon what is called the campaign 
of Atlanta. My attention was first attracted to this 
young officer by the superior excellence of his brigade 
in discipline and instruction, the result of his labour, 
skill, and devotion. With more foresight than I 
have witnessed in any officer of his experience, he 
seemed to act upon the principle that success de- 
pended upon the thorough preparation in discipline 
and esprit of his command for conflict more than on 
any influence that could be exerted upon the field 
itself, and when collision came his command vin- 



390 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



dicated his wisdom as much as his valour. In all 

the achievements of the Twentieth Corps in that cam- 
paign, Colonel Harrison bore a conspicuous part. 
At Resaca and Peach Tree Creek, the conduct of him- 
self and command were especially distinguished. 
Colonel Harrison is an officer of superior abilities and 
of great professional and personal worth. It gives 
me great pleasure to commend him favourably to the 
Hon. Secretary, with the assurance that his prefer- 
ment will be a just recognition of his services and 
martial accomplishments." 

After the battle of Peach Tree Creek in which he 
had played such a gallant part he discovered that the 
field hospitals were in many cases without surgeons. 
He at once took off his coat and began tenderly ban- 
daging the wounded. 

He remained with the army until the fall of At- 
lanta on September 1, and then asked for and re- 
ceived thirty days' leave of absence. It will be re- 
membered that when he enlisted he was reporter of 
the Supreme Court of Indiana. His Democratic op- 
ponents took advantage of his absence ; the office was 
declared vacant and a Democrat was nominated and 
elected in his place. The time had now come round 
for another election and he made up his mind to once 
more win the office. After a vigorous campaign he 
was elected by a large majority. During his struggle 
for this office he did much to make Indiana a sure 
State for Lincoln in the Federal election which fol- 
lowed in that year. 

When the election was over he at once rejoined his 
command and was with Sherman's force when it 
entered Savannah. He was still to see more fight- 
ing, and in December was one of the leading generals 
in the struggles that took place near Murfreesboro' 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



39 { 



and Nashville, and did not a little to drive Hood 
from Tennessee and to end the war in the West. 

Towards the end of December he learned that his 
children were sick with fever and he hastened to his 
home. They soon recovered and he once more set 
out to join Sherman. He was, however, smitten 
down with fever and for a time his life was despaired 
of. His constitution had been somewhat under- 
mined by the hardships of these long campaigns, 
but he fought bravely with the disease, and by Spring 
was able to rejoin Sherman's force in time to be in 
at the great final stage of the war, and was present 
at Durham Station, JSTorth Carolina, when General 
Johnston surrendered to General Sherman. 

The war over he at once returned to the routine 
of his office, but no soldier of Indiana was more hon- 
oured by the people; and it was evident to his ad- 
mirers that he would soon be forced to take a promi- 
nent part in the politics of his State. He rapidly 
grew in reputation, and was soon recognised as one 
of the ablest lawyers of his time. He always fought 
to win, and gave every case the most careful study. 
His contact with men during the war, his experiences 
in camp and on the battle-field had done much to 
mould his character, and he had now a broader 
view of things and a wider knowledge of men than 
when he went forth with his raw recruits three years 
before. 



392 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

president benjamin hakrison (Concluded). 

For nearly ten years General Harrison managed 
to keep out of political life, excepting, of course, that 
he was ever ready to assist the Eepublican party in 
its fights in the State. In 1875 his friends urged 
him to enter the field as a candidate for the Govern- 
orship of Indiana in 1876, but he had no ambition 
in that direction and declined to allow his name to 
go before the State Convention, as his personal af- 
fairs would not permit him to abandon the pursuit 
of his profession for such work. Godlove S. Orth 
was then nominated, but he had scarcely begun his 
canvass when an old scandal connecting him dis- 
honourably with the Venezuela Claims was raked 
up. It was an unjust accusation, but Mr. Orth with- 
drew. 

At this time General Harrison was on a vacation 
trip in the North- West, and as the Eepublicans of 
Indiana knew that he was the only man under whom 
they could have any chance of carrying the State they 
placed his name, without his consent, at the head of 
the ticket. When he heard of their action he at first 
refused to allow his name to stand, but he sacrificed 
himself for his party and undertook a canvass. He 
had only six weeks before election but in that time he 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



393 



visited every corner of the State, proving himself an 
able stumper and winning many votes. He was de- 
feated, but the Democratic majority was so greatly 
reduced that they realised they had to do with a man 
of force of character and popularity. 

In 1877 during the widespread strikes throughout 
the United States the mobs of workmen threatened 
public property and life in Indiana. At such a time 
he could not be silent, and counselled the toiling 
classes to obey the laws of the land, at the same time 
speaking in favour of higher wages. It was neces- 
sary to call out troops; and he was placed in com- 
mand of one company which was detailed to protect 
the United States Armoury. During this critical 
time he proved himself in every way a force for peace 
and a friend of the workmen, and when the strike 
was over and a number of the leaders were impris- 
oned it was largely due to his influence that many of 
them were released. 

The authorities in Washington had their eye on 
this energetic Republican lawyer, and when the very 
important Mississippi River Commission was ap- 
pointed, in 1879, by President Hayes, to consider the 
improvement of the navigation of the river and the 
reclaiming of the alluvial lands, he was appointed a 
member of it. 

The return of good times in trade and the wise 
administration of Hayes had restored confidence in 
the country, and things looked bright for the party in 
power when the time for the general election once 
more came round in 1880. General Harrison was 
Chairman of the Indiana delegation to the National 
Republican Convention in Chicago of that year. 
Among his friends his name was suggested for Presi- 
dent, but he promptly checked the movement in his 



394 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

favour. He had gone to Chicago without any 
thought of supporting Garfield, but when the diffi- 
culty arose between the friends of Ulysses S. Grant 
and the anti-third term men he brought the solid vote 
of Indiana into line for James A. Garfield. In the 
campaign which followed he vigorously stumped the 
State, and did much to win it for the Republicans 
both in the local elections in October and in the Fed- 
eral election in November. 

The good work he had done for his party was 
recognised by President Garfield, who offered him a 
place in his cabinet, but this offer he refused. He 
was not without his reward, however, for the new 
legislature, which he had done so much to elect, 
appointed him to serve in the United States Senate 
for six years, from March, 1881, to March, 1887. 
While in the Senate he did excellent work on the 
Chinese question, on the admission of the Territories 
into the Union, and on the Contract Labour Bill. 
He was an out and out opponent of the wholesale im- 
migration of cheap labour. He was a vigorous ad- 
vocate of civil service reform and an upholder of 
high tariff. He was, however, a strong partisan, and 
during Mr. Cleveland's term could see but little good 
in the President, and was a severe critic of many of 
his vetoes, especially those on the pension Bills. His 
term in the Senate expired on March 4, 1887, and 
he was once more considered by the legislature, but 
the Hon. David Turpie was chosen to succeed him, 
and he returned from Washington to his Indianapo- 
lis home. 

He was now to come prominently before the nation 
on some of the larger questions of the day. At that 
time trusts, combines, and monopolies, although they 
had not reached the gigantic proportion of the present 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



395 



day, were beginning to make themselves felt. He 
saw the danger in them, saw that his country might 
yet be ruled by an oligarchy of wealth, an oligarchy 
that might in time hold the toilers of the nation in 
practical servitude. On several occasions after his 
return to Indianapolis he denounced trusts as un- 
American, unpatriotic, and declared that some way 
must be found to stop these combinations. 

Early in 1888 his Ohio friends began to speak of 
him as a possible candidate for the Presidency, and 
when the Republican National Convention met in 
Chicago on June 19, 1888, there were many who 
hoped to have him the choice of the party. There 
were a number of very strong names before the Con- 
vention, chief among them were John Sherman, 
Chauncey M. Depew, J ames G. Blaine, and General 
Harrison. At first Harrison seemed to have but 
little chance against Sherman, but on the fourth bal- 
lot it was evident that he was going to make a hard 
race for the nomination, and on the eighth, carried 
it by an overwhelming majority. One of his very 
prominent supporters at this time and one who did 
perhaps more than any other man to win him the 
nomination, was William McKinley. Levi P. Mor- 
ton was nominated for Vice-President. 

On September 11, General Harrison formally ac- 
cepted the nomination. In his letter he touched up- 
on the main points of difference between the Repub- 
lican and the Democratic party and showed his sup- 
porters just where he stood. He was an opponent of 
the Mills Bill. It was to his mind but a step towards 
free trade in the English sense, and against this he 
maintained that a protective tariff was " constitu- 
tional, wholesome and necessary." " We do not of- 
fer," he said, " a fixed schedule, but a principle. 



396 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



We will revise the schedule, modify rates, but always 
with an intelligent provision as to the effect upon the 
domestic production and the wages of our working 
people." He dreaded a low tariff as that would 
mean larger importation and less work and lower 
wages for his countrymen. He expressed himself 
strongly in his letter against the importation of con- 
tract labour. He would support vigorously the con- 
tracts in force, and would make even more strenuous 
laws against the importation of cheap labour. He 
was most decided on the matter of Chinese immigra- 
tion ; he would stop all further introduction of Chi- 
nese into his country, and would see that the laws in 
force against that people were faithfully executed. 
Ever since the reconstruction of the Southern States 
very barefaced frauds had been practised in connec- 
tion with the ballot. These frauds culminated in the 
fiasco of the Hayes-Tilden election. On this mat- 
ter he said, " every constitutional power should be 
used to make this right secure, and punish frauds 
upon the ballot." He closed his letter with words 
which showed that there was no narrow provincial- 
ism in him. He was anxious that his country should 
be recognised as one of the first Powers of the world. 
He wished the friendliness and respect of the for- 
eign Powers. " Our nation," he said, " is too great, 
both in material strength and in moral power, to in- 
dulge in bluster or to be suspected of timorousness." 

His letter was a strong one and one that showed 
his party that they had made no mistake in the man 
they were attempting to place at the head of their 
country. He had proved himself a good soldier, an 
able senator, and they had every reason to believe 
that his record as President would be equally good. 

It may seem that the party were not wise in select- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



397 



ing a man so little known to the country, but he had 
pronounced himself so as to leave no doubt as to his 
attitude on the leading questions. For instance, in 
February, 1888, he discussed, at length, the tariff 
question in such a way as to win the votes of the 
American producers and the American workmen. 
He then declared himself in favour of a protective 
tariff and denounced free trade or a tariff for rev- 
enue only as involving a sudden and severe cut in the 
wages of the working men and women of this country. 
He had likewise pronounced himself on naval and 
military affairs. He saw clearly the needs of coast 
defense. It was to him absurd that it was possible 
for some " third rate Power of South America " to 
put the cities of his country, by means of their iron- 
clads, under contribution. He would go farther 
than this, he would have a navy constructed that 
would be capable of holding its own with the great 
navies of the old world. " I would like to feel," 
he said, " that no third-rate Power, aye, no first-rate 
Power, could sail into our defenseless harbours and 
lay our great cities under tribute." He had already 
in the Senate pronounced himself a bimetallist, had 
favoured civil service reform, and in his criticism 
of President Cleveland on the matter of pensions had 
showed that, no matter what it would cost his coun- 
try, he would have the men who saved his country in 
the time of her dire need and the widows and orphans 
of such men adequately provided for and would not 
permit them to be treated in their old days as out- 
casts and paupers. 

On several occasions he was guilty of playing to 
the gods in his speeches, and particularly at Indian- 
apolis, at the banquet in honour of Messrs. O'Connor 
and Osmond. There is no doubt, judging from any 



398 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of his speeches, that he had but little affection for 
England. The execution of Thomas Harrison by the 
Royalists, the strong stand his ancestors took against 
the mother-country in the Revolutionary war, the 
battles of his grandfather against the Indians, who 
were largely incited by the British, and against the 
British themselves in Canada, did not a little to make 
him regard England as the natural enemy of his coun- 
try. Certainly his words at the Indianapolis banquet 
referred to were not the words of a great statesman ; 
and when he said " I would rather be William 
O'Brien in Tullamore jail, a martyr of free speech, 
than the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Dublin 
Castle," he spoke without either knowledge or judg- 
ment. 

However, he had been outspoken and sincere and 
the country knew just where he stood. 

The Republican platform was a remarkably shrewd 
one for catching votes. It appealed to the Irish by 
expressing a hope that the fellow citizens of Irish 
birth would soon see Home Rule established in Ire- 
land. It appealed to the manufacturers by advoca- 
ting the maintenance of the protective system and by 
denouncing the Mills Bill. It appealed to the work- 
ing classes by declaring its hostility to the introduc- 
tion into this country of foreign contract labour and 
of Chinese labour. It appealed to all classes except- 
ing the wealthy capitalists by denouncing trusts and 
combines. It appealed to the religious by declaring 
itself against the powers exercised by the Mormon 
Church in the Territories. It appealed to the pa- 
triotic by advocating increased naval expenditure and 
by expressing its intention of doing what it could to 
once more build up the American merchant marine. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



399 



In fact there was no party in the nation to which it 
did not appeal. 

After accepting the nomination General Harrison 
remained at his home in Indianapolis, while his 
party was energetically working throughout the 
length and breadth of the country for his election. 
He, however, was not idle. Delegations from various 
States and cities and classes of the people made pil- 
grimages to his home, and to each one he said the 
appropriate word. He was not afraid to speak, and 
his utterances at this time did not a little to make the 
country have confidence in him. When the No- 
vember election came round, it was found that his 
work had been well done and that the Democrats 
were unable to hold the country. The Republicans 
had been out of office for four short years when 
Harrison found himself elected to the White House. 

His inaugural address delivered March 4, 1889, 
was easily his masterpiece. In it he repeated the 
position taken by the Eepublicans at the Convention 
at which he was nominated. He took his stand 
firmly for a protective system, and while doing so 
pointed out the danger there might be from a treas- 
ury surplus, but thought that at the same time it 
would be possible to reduce the revenues without 
breaking down the protective system or injuring the 
industries of the country. In this address, too, he 
asserted his adherence to the principles contained 
in the Monroe Doctrine, but foreshadowed increased 
friendly relationship with all the great Powers. 
He was as ardent in his address for civil service re- 
form as President Hayes had been and as vigorous 
an upholder of a strong naval policy as President 
Arthur. His attitude on the pension laws had done 
not a little to elect him, and he took this opportunity 



400 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of emphasising the need of giving " more adequate 
and discriminating relief to the Union soldiers and 
sailors and to their widows and orphans." As has 
already been pointed out he had ever been a partisan, 
but in this hour of triumph he could be generous and 
in closing his inaugural address he said : 

" Let us exalt patriotism and moderate our party 
contentions. Let those who would die for the nag 
on the field of battle give a better proof of their pa- 
triotism and a higher glory to their country by pro- 
moting fraternity and justice. A party success that 
is achieved by unfair methods or by practices that 
partake of revolution is hurtful and evanescent, even 
from a party standpoint. We should hold our differ- 
ent opinions in mutual respect, and, having submit- 
ted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should ac- 
cept an adverse judgment with the same respect 
that we would have demanded of our opponents if 
the decision had been in our favour." 

He began his term at a time when no really great 
questions were attracting the attention of the country, 
and, indeed, throughout his whole period in the Cap- 
ital there was political calm. 

The question of the Behring Sea Rights was the 
first to receive his attention. On March 22, 1889, 
the Behring Sea was closed to all nations and the 
President issued a proclamation prohibiting the kill- 
ing of fur animals within Alaska without a special 
permit from the United States. 

The first year of his office had no other questions of 
importance, and when he presented his message to 
Congress in December he had really but two matters 
of importance to speak about; the one, a hope that 
the Pan-American Conference would be the means 
of establishing better international relations and a 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



401 



permanent peace on the American continent; the 
other, a warning with regard to the revenue. It was 
then $5,000,000 over the expenditures and a reduc- 
tion in the revenues should, he thought, be made, 
but in such a way as not to injure the manufacturers 
of the country. 

The year 1890 had several matters of more im- 
portance ; and, indeed, to the legislation of this year 
was largely due the defeat of President Harrison at 
the next general election. It was in this year that 
William McKinley brought forward his tariff bill, 
which after much discussion and able consideration 
was agreed on by both Houses. In July of this year, 
too, the Sherman Silver Bill was approved of by the 
President. This bill provided that there should be a 
monthly purchase of four million five hundred thou- 
sand ounces of silver with certificates to be issued as 
a full legal tender and that two million ounces were 
to be coined monthly until July 1, 1891; after that 
date as much coin as should be necessary to redeem 
outstanding certificates. 

While in the Senate General Harrison had been 
a sturdy advocate for the admission of the Territories 
to the Union, and, in 1890, the Dakotas, Montana, 
and Washington came into the great family of States. 

The high tariff had been the means of bringing 
in an enormous revenue to the country, so much so 
that the President in his annual message was once 
more forced to deal with the question, pointing out 
the necessity of tariff revision in the light of the fact 
that the revenue would probably be $83,000,000 
greater than the expenditure for that year. 

So far he had had practically nothing but domestic 
affairs to deal with ; he was now called upon to deal 
with several questions of international interest. In 
26 



402 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



1891 there was a civil war in Chili, and the United 
States was drawn into the affair through a conflict 
between a Chilian mob and some United States sail- 
ors. However, the matter was amicably settled by 
arbitration, and in the following year the Chilian 
government apologised to the United States. In this 
year, too, it was decided to submit to arbitration the 
Behring Sea differences between the United States 
and Great Britain; and France, Sweden and Italy 
were called in as the arbitrators. There was for a 
time slight friction with the Italian government. 
The Italian secret assassination society known as the 
Mafia had found its way to America, and in New 
Orleans had murdered a police officer. Arrests were 
made and the culprits were acquitted by means, it 
is said, of bribing the jury ; but the mob took the law 
into its own hands, broke into the jail, shot nine of 
the accused and hanged two. The Italian govern- 
ment appealed to the United States, but the Secretary 
of State said that the Federal government could not 
interfere in the matter, as it was entirely under the 
control of the State. The Italian minister at Wash- 
ington was recalled, but this difficulty, too, was 
settled by the payment by the United States of $25,- 
000 damages. 

When the Minneapolis Republican Convention met 
in 1892, President Harrison was renominated, but 
was beaten at the polls by Grover Cleveland by a 
very large majority. He had made an excellent 
President, and as no critical question had agitated 
the nation during his term of office many wondered 
why the country had turned so overwhelmingly 
against him and his party. There were, however, 
several excellent reasons. He was never a strikingly 
strong man, and in the opinion of many James G. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



403 



Blaine had been the real President of the United 
States. Again there was a great deal of dissatisfac- 
tion with several things in his government. He had 
expressed himself most emphatically for civil ser- 
vice reform, but the people saw no reform ; the spoils 
system went on as vigorously as under any of his 
predecessors. He had, too, declared that the veter- 
ans of the Civil war should be provided for, but the 
nation began to look with distrust on the very ample 
provision that was being made for them. Corporal 
Tanner had been appointed Commissioner of Pen- 
sions, and while he held office raised the pension pay- 
ments from $53,000,000 to $80,000,000. So great 
had been the indignation that Tanner was forced to 
resign. Just at the time of the elections, too, labour 
strikes were prevalent, and naturally the government 
was held greatly to blame by the working classes for 
the need of such strikes. A People's party had been 
formed and this party nominated General James B. 
Weaver, and although it had no chance of electing 
its candidate it did draw many votes away from Har- 
rison. These reasons among others account very 
largely for his defeat. He, however, did not feel it 
keenly as he was at the time plunged in deep sorrow. 
A few days before the election his wife, the com- 
panion of his struggle years, had died. 

Before President Cleveland was inaugurated an- 
other question of importance came before President 
Harrison for his consideration. Difficulties had 
arisen in the Hawaiian Islands, and the American 
element in the population had arisen in rebellion and 
dethroned Queen Liliuokalani. The American Min- 
ister proclaimed a protectorate " for the preservation 
of life and property." A provisional government 
was formed, and a force of United States marines 



4:04 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



was landed at the request of this government, and the 
American flag hoisted over Honolulu. An attempt 
was made to annex Hawaii to the United States and 
President Harrison sent a treaty to the Senate to 
that effect. The Committee on Foreign Relations 
approved of it, but it failed to obtain the necessary 
two-thirds majority. The time was not yet ripe for 
the United States to begin her imperial career. 
However, American influence was so great in Hawaii 
that it was evident to many that the annexation of the 
islands was only a matter of time. 

President Harrison delivered his last annual mes- 
sage to Congress December 6, 1892, and in his clos- 
ing words showed how well he read the future. 

" There is no reason why the national influence, 
power, and prosperity should not observe the same 
rates of increase that have characterised the past 
thirty years. We carry the great impulse and in- 
crease of these years into the future. There is no 
reason why, in many lines of production, we should 
not surpass all other nations, as we have already done 
in some. There are no near frontiers to our possible 
development. Retrogression would be a crime." 

In the light of the phenomenal development of 
the United States in the past ten years, in the light 
of the fact that American manufacturers have found 
their way into every known country and have in 
many cases forced themselves into the great manu- 
facturing centres of Europe, these words are worthy 
of more than passing consideration in estimating the 
character of President Harrison. In them he proved 
that he had the chief of all essentials to a statesman, 
the power of reading the future. 

After retiring from the Presidency he returned to 
Indianapolis, but was shortly afterwards called upon 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



405 



to deliver a course of lectures on constitutional law 
in the Leland Stanford, Jr., University of California. 
In 1896 he married Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmock. 
Three years later he was appointed by President 
McKinley Counsel in the Anglo- Venezuelan Bound- 
ary Arbitration Commission, and concluded his ar- 
gument in this case in Paris, September 27, 1899. 

He was to see the century out and died March 13, 
1901, at the age of sixty-eight. He was never a 
great man in the sense in which a Gladstone, a 
Lincoln, or a Jefferson was great, but a good man he 
ever was, and left behind him a clean record. It 
was thought by many that he was cold, in fact so 
much so, that the wags took delight in making jokes 
at his expense on his lack of enthusiasm, but to those 
who knew him best he was warm-hearted and kindly. 



406 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEK XXV. 

PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 

(Two Administrations, 1897-1901, 1901 — ). 

On September 6, 1901, the American people, and, 
indeed, the entire civilised world were shocked by 
the awful crime that was perpetrated in theTempleof 
Mnsic at the great Pan-American Exposition in Buf- 
falo. On that day, in a time of happiness and re- 
joicing, the last President of the nineteenth century 
was ruthlessly shot down by a cold-blooded assassin. 
What reason could there be for the crime ? None ! 
In the case of Lincoln the bitter feeling in the South, 
and the constant threats against the man who had 
destroyed the rebels' plans make his assassination at 
least intelligible; but in the case of McKinley no 
cause could possibly be given; he was one of the 
people and had never been in any sense of the word 
tyrannical or over-bearing in his high office. 

When the character of the Presidential office is 
considered and the fact that in the last thirty-six 
years three presidents have been slain, it would al- 
most seem that, in a sense, Democratic government 
was a failure, that it would be necessary to hedge the 
President about with some of the safeguards that sur- 
round the crowned rulers of Europe. But even if 



WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 



william Mckinley. 



407 



this were done would the President be more, secure, 
would it not rather be but an incentive for crack- 
brained social theorists to make further attempts on 
his life? The strangest thing about this assassina- 
tion was that the murderer was not the only one 
capable of viewing with pleasure his dastardly deed. 
Over in Europe anarchists in their folly met at the 
time of Czolgosz's execution and rejoiced that one 
of their kind had been brave enough to slay a tyrant. 
Poor benighted creatures, only making the lot of 
those they would free from the rule of oligarchies, 
aristocracies, monarchies and plutocracies the harder. 
As such a deed is contemplated we are almost 
forced to believe that the world is run by cruel 
chance; but the sublime faith of the dying man, 
" God's will, not ours be done," gives us a more hope- 
ful point of view. 

William McKinley, who was thus cruelly taken 
off, was the President who was to see the nineteenth 
century with its infinite progress out, and the twen- 
tieth century with its even greater promise in. He 
was born at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 
29, 1843. He was of Scotch-Irish stock, his ances- 
tors having emigrated to this country in the early 
part of the eighteenth century. His great-grand- 
father David McKinley fought through the Revolu- 
tionary war, and his grandfather James McKinley 
served in the War of 1812 under General William 
Henry Harrison, and took part in the celebrated bat- 
tle of Tippecanoe. His ancestors were humble toil- 
ers who in the latter part of the eighteenth century 
settled in the promising young State of Ohio. His 
father, William McKinley, Sr., was a young iron- 
founder and his mother Nancy Allison a farmer's 
daughter. They were both energetic workers and, 



408 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



while not rich, were at the time of their illustrious 
son's birth in well-to-do circumstances. 

For a time they remained at Niles where their 
children were educated in the village school, and 
William, a thoroughly energetic youth, enjoyed him- 
self picking berries, skating, and fishing in Mos- 
quito Creek along with the other boys of the village. 
But Niles had not good educational advantages, and, 
for their children's sake, the McKinleys removed to 
Poland where there was an excellent Academy. At 
Poland, too, there was a debating club called the 
" Edward Everett Society," and as William McKin- 
ley was a very active member of this society no doubt 
a good deal of his forensic ability was due to the in- 
terest he took in its debates. At the age of sixteen 
he was sufficiently far advanced to matriculate at 
Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. He 
set out for this institution like every other young 
freshman with high hopes, seeing the world at his 
feet, but unfortunately he was not in good health 
and had scarcely begun his college course when he 
was forced to return home. Hard times visited the 
United States and his father felt the effect of them ; 
so much so that when William was robust enough to 
return to college he was not in a financial position 
to send him back. However his son was not to be 
thwarted in his ambition, and like many another lad 
entered the teaching profession as a stepping stone 
to a career. He taught school in a district school 
several miles out of Poland and received the mag- 
nificent salary of $25 a month; however, as he 
" boarded round," it was a little better than that. 

After several years' teaching he made up his mind 
to return to college to finish his course, but just 
when he had resolved to take this step Sumter was 



WILLIAM MCKINLEY. 



409 



fired upon and surrendered and the call for volun- 
teers was sent forth by President Lincoln. 

Ohio made a loyal response to this call offering 
more volunteers than she was asked for, and William 
McKinley was one of the first to enroll his name, — 
the fighting blood of his great-grandfather David and 
his grandfather James was in his veins. His name 
was enrolled in Company E of the 23rd Regiment 
of Ohio Volunteers. In this regiment were several 
men who were to rise to high distinction both in the 
army and the State. The colonel of it was William 
S. Rosecrans, and its major, a no less distinguished 
person than Rutherford B. Hayes. The regiment 
enlisted for three months' service, and at once set 
out for Columbus, but before it reached that place 
the 75,000 men requested by Lincoln had been more 
than enrolled. However, a second call went up 
almost at once, — this time not for three months but 
for three years' service, and the 23rd responded to a 
man. 

For the next fourteen months William McKinley 
was to be a private in the ranks. The summer and 
autumn of 1861 were to be spent in chasing an elu- 
sive foe, and the Ohio volunteers experienced much 
marching, considerable guerrilla warfare and many 
privations, but no heavy fighting. Young McKinley 
had been several times under fire, receiving his bap- 
tism at Carnifex Ferry, September 10, 1861. The 
hardships endured by the men began to tell on them, 
many were smitten down with malarial fever and by 
other diseases, and it was fortunate for them that 
they were able to spend the winter in drilling and 
recruiting. In the spring of 1S62 they were in West 
Virginia still trying to cut off Confederate bands, 
but, on May 8, were themselves compelled to beat a 



410 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



somewhat hasty retreat. All through the summer, 
and indeed through the entire year, they had much 
of the drudgery of war with but little of its glory, 
excepting for their great fights at South Mountain 
and Antietam. They, however, did excellent work, 
— on one occasion making a forced march of no less 
than 1 04 miles on foot in three days. It was thought 
that the capital was in danger and the 23rd was one 
of the regiments hurried to its protection. That 
William McKinley was doing good work, requiring 
intelligence, is evidenced by the fact that he was 
appointed commissary sergeant to the regiment on 
April 19, 1862, when he was only nineteen years old. 

At the beginning of September things began to 
look more hopeful for the Union. Lee was becoming 
bolder and McClellan felt that he was strong enough 
to attack him. The 23rd was hurried from Wash- 
ington to engage in the great fight that was to take 
place at South Mountain and Antietam. That they 
were now a veteran regiment is evident from this 
description of the work done by them, given in the 
Hon. Whitelaw Reid's book, Ohio in the War. 

" At South Mountain the regiment, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hayes (General J. D. Cox, command- 
ing division), was the first infantry engaged, being 
the advance of the column on that day. It was 
ordered at an early hour to advance by an unfre- 
quented road leading up the mountain and to attack 
the enemy. Posted behind stone walls the enemy, 
in greatly superior force, poured a destructive fire 
of musketry, grape, and canister into our ranks at 
very short range in a very short space of time. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hayes, Captain Skiles, and Lieuten- 
ants Hood, Hitter, and Smith were each badly 
wounded (Colonel Hayes' arm broken; Captain 



william Mckinley. 



411 



Skiles shot through the elbow, arm amputated; Bit- 
ter, leg amputated) ; and over 100 dead and wounded 
lay upon the field out of the 350 who went into the 
action. 

" The command now devolved upon Major Comly, 
and remained with him from that time forward. 
The enemy suddenly opened fire from the left, and 
the regiment changed front on first company. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hayes soon after again made his ap- 
pearance on the field, with his wound half-dressed, 
and fought, against the remonstrances of the whole 
command, until carried off. Soon after the re- 
mainder of the brigade came up, a gallant charge 
was made at the hill, and the enemy was dislodged 
and driven into the woods beyond. In this charge 
a large number of the enemy were killed with the 
bayonet. During the remainder of the day the reg- 
iment fought with its division. Three bayonet 
charges were made by the regiment during the day, 
in each of which the enemy were driven off with 
heavy loss. 

" During the day the 23rd lost nearly 200, of 
whom almost one-fourth were killed on the field or 
afterward died of wounds. Only seven men were 
unaccounted for at the roll call after the action. 
The colours of the regiment were riddled and the 
blue field almost completely carried away by shells 
and bullets. 

" At Antietam the regiment fought with the Kana- 
wha division. iSTear the close of the day a disastrous 
charge was made by the division (the 23rd occupying 
the right of the first brigade), by which the left of 
the division was exposed to a strong force of the ene- 
my, who suddenly emerged from a corn-field in rear 
of the left. The colours of the regiment were in- 



412 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



stantly shot down, at the same time a feint was made 
in the front. A battery in the rear opened fire on 
the advancing column of the enemy, by which also 
the national forces sustained more loss than the 
enemy. After a moment's delay the colours were 
planted by Major Comly on a new line at right angles 
to the former front, and without waiting for any 
further order the regiment, at a run, formed a line 
in a new direction and opened fire on the enemy, who 
for some cause retired. Little damage was done by 
the enemy except a few captures from the left. The 
division soon after withdrew, but through some in- 
advertency no order reached the 23rd, and it re- 
mained on the field until Colonel Scammon (com- 
manding the division) came back and ordered it to 
the rear. 

" Almost exhausted by several days' hard fight- 
ing, the regiment was ordered to support a battery of 
General Sturgis' division during the night and was 
not relieved until the afternoon of the next day." 

Connected with the commissariat department it 
was not to be expected that Sergeant McKinley 
would be exposed to the severe fighting of those his- 
torical days. However, there was no soldier who 
ran greater risks than did he at Antietam. In every 
army there are a number of men, who, largely from 
physical constitution, are unable to face the deadly 
fire, and so become " stragglers." William McKin- 
ley made use of these, setting them to work to pre- 
pare hot coffee for the troops in the firing line, and 
when it was ready he boldly rode on the battle-field 
exposing himself to a heavy fire to bring this much 
needed comfort to the men. There is nothing that 
requires greater courage than such a deed; going in- 
to battle with a rifle in hand is not nearly as cour- 



william Mckinley. 



413 



ageous. Then the excitement of the fight, the de- 
sire to bring down an enemy makes the soldier forget 
his own danger, but going in, as it were, unarmed, 
an almost sure target, requires a courage that is given 
to but few men. The water-carriers, the ammuni- 
tion-men and the stretcher-bearers are among the 
real heroes of any great battle. His conduct on this 
day did not go unnoticed, and when it was reported 
he was very promptly promoted to the rank of lieu- 
tenant. 

After the fight at Antietam the 23rd continued to 
be engaged in West Virginia endeavouring to clear 
up the Confederate forces operating there. They 
still had much marching to do, but were in no great 
battles until the Spring of 1864. In the meantime 
William McKinley received further promotion being 
appointed a first lieutenant, and selected by General 
Hayes for his staff. 

In 1864 the war took on a new phase. Grant was 
then the general-in-chief of the Union Army and in 
the energetic campaign which he planned the 23rd 
was to play its part. All through the severe fight- 
ing of May, June and July, it did good work, en- 
during much severe marching — the hardest thing in 
war. On one occasion it covered no fewer than 180 
miles in nine days with but little food, and during 
this entire time was exposed to an aggravating fire. 

Young McKinley throughout the stiff fighting 
which took place during this year in the Shenandoah 
Valley distinguished himself time and again. On 
one occasion Hayes, who was very fond of him, des- 
patched him with most important orders. He was 
forced to ride through a hail of bullets but he did 
his work fearlessly: when he returned to his com- 



414 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



mander Hayes could but confess, " I never expected 
to see you in life again." 

The Confederate General Early, against whom 
General Crook with the Eighth corps was operating, 
had numerically a much superior force, and as a re- 
sult the corps lost heavily, the wonder being that it 
was not annihilated. General Hayes' brigade lost 
during this campaign one-fourth in killed and 
wounded. On one occasion in a retreat Lieutenant 
McKinley was given a good opportunity to show 
his character. In the retreat he came upon four 
abandoned guns with their caissons, a sad sight for 
any soldiers. He felt that an effort should be made 
to bring these guns safely off, and received permis- 
sion to appeal to his company of the 23rd to assist 
him in the work. They volunteered to a man, the 
whole regiment joined in the work, and the guns were 
saved. 

On July 25, he was raised to the rank of Captain. 
He was now in Sheridan's division and the fighting 
and marching was to continue. He distinguished 
himself in the battle of Opequan as General Crook's 
staff officer, carrying orders hither and thither under 
heavy fire. The following incident well illustrates 
the character of this boy Captain : 

" Crook had sent McKinley with verbal orders to 
General Duval to move his division into action. 
Duval on receiving the orders, not knowing the coun- 
try, asked : c By what route shall I move my com- 
mand V Captain McKinley replied: 'I would 
move up this creek.' Duval's answer was : 1 1 will 
not budge without definite orders/ McKinley then 
decisively said : i This is a case of great emergency, 
General. I order you, by command of General 



william Mckinley. 



415 



Crook to move your corn m and up the ravine to a 
position on the right of the army.' " 

The order was obeyed and the movement was suc- 
cessfully executed. He was present at Cedar Creek 
when Early attacked Sheridan's army under Wright. 
Sheridan was twenty miles away at Winchester. 
Fearing disaster for his corps he made his famous 
ride, met his retreating troops, reformed the broken 
line and smashed Early's army. On this occasion 
he was greatly helped by Captain McKinley. The 
young staff officer rode hither and thither along the 
broken line letting the retreating Union soldiers know 
of the presence of Sheridan who was worth to them 
many pieces of artillery. For his conduct at the 
battles of Opequan, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill 
President Lincoln appointed him, on March 13, 
1865, a brevet major. 

He was to see no more fighting. He received a 
staff appointment on the staff of General S. S. Car- 
roll at Washington, and was in the capital at the time 
when Lee surrendered at Appomattox and the war 
practically closed. 

Now that the war was over he began to look about 
him for a calling in life. He had no profession that 
he could fall back upon. He was too ambitious to 
take to labouring with his hands for his bread as his 
fathers had done. He was sorely tempted to re- 
main in the army. The authorities pointed out to 
him what splendid opportunities there would be for 
a man of his experience, standing, and character; 
but now that fighting had ceased, that the great cause 
for which he had fought was successful, he had no 
longer any desire to carry a sword. The army in 
peace had no attractions for his ambitious spirit. 

In July, he returned to Poland and at the advice 



416 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



of his father decided to begin the study of law. He 
entered the office of Judge Charles E. Glidden and 
was admitted to the Bar in 1867 after having com- 
pleted his law school course in Albany, New York. 
On the advice of his sister, who was a teacher in Can- 
ton, he decided to begin the practice of law in that 
town. And from that year until his untimely death 
his life was closely identified with that busy little 
manufacturing centre. 

He was not what could be called a brilliant man. 
He had won his way so far by dogged determination 
and sterling honesty, and the things that made him 
successful in the army were to make him successful 
in law. He was an ambitious youth, and from the 
very first year in which he began to practise law he 
took an interest in the politics of his country. He 
had proved himself brave on the battle-field, he was 
now to prove himself quite as brave in the Democratic 
community in which he had begun his life's work. 
His father had been a Whig and a Republican, and 
likewise, it is worthy of note, an upholder of a high 
protective tariff, and the son from the beginning 
adopted his principles, and never departed from 
them. He made his first political speech in 1867. 
It required courage to do it. In it he favoured giv- 
ing suffrage to coloured men, a most unpopular idea 
in the State. 

He soon became recognised as a young man of ster- 
ling legal ability and his practice grew rapidly. In 
1869 the Republican party put him forward as a 
candidate for district attorney. They did this mere- 
ly to have a candidate in the field, they had no 
thought that he would be elected; not so with Mc- 
Kinley, he was not accustomed to failure and made 
such an energetic canvass that the over-confident 



willjla m Mckinley. 



Democrats were badly beaten. Two years later he 
was in the field again for the same office. He had 
made an excellent public servant and hoped, on his 
record, to be re-elected. Bnt the Democrats were 
not to be caught napping this time. They put a 
strong man in the field, opposed him with great en- 
ergy and succeeded in defeating him by a small ma- 
jority. The energy with which he fought them, and 
the power he displayed in his speeches brought him 
prominently before the community as the most prom- 
ising young lawyer in Canton. 

On January 25, 1871, he married Miss Ida Sax- 
ton. Miss Saxton was the daughter of a banker of 
large means, a girl of cultivated mind, brilliant, and 
wudely travelled. That the young lawyer of humble 
parentage should have won such a girl speaks well 
for his character. He had now a new incentive in 
life and for the next five years confined himself al- 
most exclusively to his rapidly increasing law prac- 
tice, but with each year he grew 7 in reputation with 
the citizens of Ohio and particularly with the mem- 
bers of the Eepublican party. 
27 



418 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTEE XXVI. 
president william mckinley (Continued). 

During the decade following the close of the Civil 
war the United States felt the great drain they had 
had upon their resources. An enormous debt had 
rolled up and the Greenback party was advocating 
repudiation and fiat money. In 1875 Major Mc- 
Kinley, during the campaign for Governor of Ohio 
between Hayes and Allen, made many strong 
speeches on the money question showing a sound 
point of view, ever speaking in favour of honest 
money and the resumption of specie payments. 

His work during this canvass brought him very 
prominently before the State as a whole, and when 
the time came round for nominating members for 
Congress in 1876 he was one of the most likely can- 
didates. Before the nomination he canvassed the 
congressional district composed of the counties of 
Carroll, Columbiana, Mahoning and Stark. He put 
into his canvass the vigour and intelligence he put 
into everything he did, and, as a result, when the 
time for nominating representatives arrived he was 
nominated on the first ballot over a number of older 
and much better known politicians. His opponent 
in the campaign was Leslie L. Lanborn, and he suc- 
ceeded in defeating him in the election in October by 
a majority of over 3,000 votes. 



william Mckinley. 



419 



While he was engaged in his canvass he visited 
the great Centennial Exposition being held in Phila- 
delphia. He there met Mr. James G. Blaine, with 
whom he was to be for the future so intimately as- 
sociated in political life, and Mr. Blaine introduced 
him to a large audience at the Union Club. The 
young candidate for congressional honours delivered 
an address on this occasion which gave him more 
than a local reputation. He was after this more or 
less of a marked man. 

He entered Congress in December, 1877, and at 
once began his career of vigorous work, particularly 
along the line of the tariff. His first address in the 
House was delivered on December 10, when he was 
presenting a petition from certain iron-manufactur- 
ers of his district, who expressed a desire that Con- 
gress would take no action with regard to revising 
the tariff until the matter had been thoroughly ex- 
amined. His first great speech on the tariff, how- 
ever, and the one which was the starting point of his 
career as the great apostle of a high protective tariff, 
was delivered on April 15, 1878. In his speech 
he upheld a protective tariff as opposed to a tariff 
for revenue only. On this occasion he said : " Home 
competition will always bring prices to a fair and 
reasonable level and prevent extortion and robbery. 
Success, or even apparent success in any business or 
enterprise, will incite others to engage in like enter- 
prises, and then follows healthful strife, the life of 
business, which inevitably results in cheapening the 
article produced." 

The sentences just quoted are significant ones. 
We have very clearly stated his point of view. He 
was a protectionist solely for the purpose of bring- 
ing about increased manufacturing industry in his 



420 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



own country. His hope was to see tall chimneys 
and noisy factories in every community. Of course, 
he recognised that a result of a high protective tariff 
would be at first to raise the price of goods, but in 
a vast country like the United States he saw just as 
clearly that the competition which would of necessity 
arise would soon cheapen goods, that interstate free 
trade would to some extent nullify the evil effects 
there might be in protection. 

In 1877, the Democrats were triumphant in Ohio 
and the Legislature recognising McKinley's power 
decided to put forth a special effort to relegate him 
once more to private life. They gerrymandered the 
State, but failed in their efforts to keep him out of 
Congress. He was a most energetic canvasser and 
despite the gerrymander was re-elected to the forty- 
sixth Congress by 1,234 of a majority. During this 
Congress he occupied a position on the Judiciary 
Committee and was a prominent worker and speaker. 
On April 18, 1879, he opposed the repeal of the Fed- 
eral election laws in a speech so able that it was 
issued as a campaign document of the Republican 
National Committee. He was now recognised in 
Congress as one of its ablest men. In 1880, he was 
appointed to succeed President Garfield as a mem- 
ber of the Ways and Means Committee, and was 
made one of the Home Committee of visitors to West 
Point Military Academy, and had other duties and 
honours bestowed upon him. 

The Ohio Legislature of 1880 restored his congres- 
sional district and he was re-elected to Congress by 
3,571 of a majority. In this year as the Ohio mem- 
ber of the Republican National Committee he took 
an active part in General Garfield's campaign for 
President, speaking with effect in many of the largest 



william Mckinley. 



421 



centres of population, thus winning for himself a 
distinctly national reputation as a politician. 

Disaster was soon to come to the Kepublican party, 
Garfield was assassinated, the country had not con- 
fidence in President Arthur, there was division 
among the leaders of the party, and as a result, in 
1882, the nation went decidedly Democratic. Mc- 
Kinley was however successful for the fourth time 
in the race for Congress, but by a narrow margin of 
eight votes. His seat was contested and he was un- 
seated, his opponent W allace taking his place. 

He had before this time expressed himself very 
strongly on several of the most vital questions of his 
time. In 1877 he had to consider the matter of free 
silver. He has been held by some to have been in- 
consistent on the money question, but his own words 
give a denial to this accusation. While speaking in 
the campaign for the Governorship of Ohio, in 1891, 
he said: 

" In 1877 I voted to reinstate the ancient silver 
dollar as a part of the coinage of the United States. 
Silver had been stricken from our coinage in 1873 — 
stricken by both political parties, the one just as 
responsible as the other — and in 1878, being in fa- 
vour of both gold and silver as money, to be kept at 
parity, one with the other, I voted for the restoration 
of the silver dollar. When I did it we had but 
8,000,000 silver dollars in circulation. When I did 
it silver was more valuable than it is to-day. We 
have 405,000,000 silver dollars to-day, and that is as 
much as we can maintain at par with gold with the 
price of silver that prevails throughout the world. I 
took every occasion to reinstate silver to its ancient 
place in our monetary system, because I wanted both 
pietals. I am opposed to free and unlimited coinage, 



422 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



because it means that we will be put upon a silver 
basis and do business with silver alone instead of 
with gold, silver, and paper money, with which we 
do the business of the country to-day — every one of 
them as good as gold. 

" I want to tell the workmen here, and the farm- 
ers, that it takes just as many blows of the hammer, 
it takes just as many strokes of the pick, it takes just 
as much digging, just as much sowing, and just as 
much reaping to get a short dollar as it does to get 
a full dollar." 

In the following year he once more expressed him- 
self on this vital question, which was to be the main 
question in his two campaigns against William J. 
Bryan, at Philadelphia with no uncertain sound, 
" There is one thing," he said, " which this country 
cannot afford to trifle with, and that is its currency, 
its measure of value, the money which passes among 
the people in return for their labour and the products 
of their toil or of their land. There is no contri- 
vance so successful in cheating labour and the poor 
people of the country as unstable, worthless, and 
easily counterfeited currency . . . the money 
of this country should be as national as its flag, as 
sacred as the national honour, and as sound as the 
government itself." 

As has already been stated, from the beginning of 
his congressional career he was interested in tariff 
reform. In the forty-seventh Congress he made a 
vigorous speech in favour of the protective policy, 
declaring that protection should never for an instant 
be abandoned or impaired. He became the leading 
figure in the protective idea through a speech he 
made at the Cooper Institute, New York, on the tariff 
question in 1880. He then said that " while the 



william Mckinley. 



423 



Democratic party professed to favour a tariff for 
revenue with incidental protection, he preferred a 
tariff for protection with incidental revenue." This 
way of stating the matter was caught up by the Re- 
publicans and became their method of presenting 
their tariff point of view. 

While in Congress in 1882 he took part in a debate 
on the tariff bill of that year. On this occasion he 
said : 

" The idea " (protection) " travels with industry 
and is the associate of enterprising thrift. It en- 
courages the development of skill, labour, and inven- 
tive genius as part of the great productive forces. 
Its advocacy is no longer limited to the manufac- 
turer, but it has friends the most devoted among the 
farmers, the wool-growers, the labourers, and the pro- 
ducers of the land. It is as strong in the country as 
in the manufacturing towns or the cities ; and while 
it is not taught generally in our colleges, and our 
young men fresh from universities join with the free 
trade thought of the country, practical business and 
every day experience later teach them that there are 
other sources of knowledge besides books, that de- 
monstration is better than theory, and that actual re- 
sults outweigh an idle philosophy. But while it is 
not favoured in the colleges, it is taught in the schools 
of experience, in the work-shop, where honest men 
perform an honest day's labour, and where capital 
seeks the development of national wealth. It is, in 
my judgment, fixed in our national policy, and no 
party is strong enough to overthrow it. 

" When the South depended upon the labour of the 
slaves and employed little or no free labour it was 
as earnest an advocate of free trade as is England 
to-day. Isfow that it must resort to free labour, it is 



424 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



placed upon the same footing as Northern producers ; 
it is compelled to pay a like rate of wages for a day's 
work and therefore demands protection against the 
foreign producer, whose product is made or grown 
by cheap labour. And we find, all through the South, 
a demand for protection to American industry 
against a foreign competition, bent upon their de- 
struction and determined to possess the American 
market. 

" Free trade may be suitable to Great Britain and 
its peculiar social and political structure, but it has 
no place in this republic where classes are unknown 
and where caste has long since been banished; 
where equality is the rule ; where labour is dignified 
and honourable; where education and improvement 
are the individual striving of every citizen, no mat- 
ter what may be the accident of his birth or the 
poverty of his early surroundings. Here the mechan- 
ic of to-day is the manufacturer of a few years hence. 
Under such conditions, free trade can have no abid- 
ing place here. We are doing very well; no other 
nation has done better or makes a better showing 
in the world's balance sheet. We ought to be satis- 
fied with the outlook for the future. We know what 
we have done and what we can do under the policy 
of protection. We have had some experience with a 
revenue tariff, which inspires neither hope, nor cour- 
age, nor confidence. Our own history condemns the 
policy we oppose and is the best vindication of the 
policy which we advocate. It needs no other." 

It will be seen from this that he was no theorist; 
he was a. practical politician. The theory of free 
trade might be all right, and he could conceive a 
country like England where it would be advisable 
to adopt such a policy. It was, however, otherwise 



william Mckinley. 



425 



with America. He was convinced that protection 
would be the means of creating many industries 
within the country and of forcing foreign manu- 
facturers who desired to hold the American market 
to establish branches of their great industries in the 
United States. The fact that this has been done 
would seem to prove that he had made a correct 
summing up of the situation. English iron-manu- 
facturers, French silk-weavers, English woolen-weav- 
ers, Italian marble cutters, etc., have all established 
themselves not in tens but in hundreds in the United 
States within the last decade. He believed that 
everything that was used within the country could 
be manufactured within the country. He was in 
this somewhat extreme. 

He said in a speech at Petersburg, Va. : " Do you 
think there would be an idle man in America if we 
manufactured everything that Americans use ? Do 
you think if we didn't buy anything from abroad 
at all, but made everything we needed, that every 
man would not be employed in the United States, 
and employed at a profitable remuneration ? Why, 
everybody is benefited by protection, even the people 
who do not believe in it — for they get great benefit 
out of it, but will not confess it ; and that is what is 
the matter with Virginia. Heretofore she has not 
believed in it. You have not had a public man that 
I know of in Washington for twenty-five years, save 
one, except the Republicans, who did not vote against 
the great doctrine of American protection, American 
industries, and American labour ; and do you imagine 
that anybody is coming to Virginia with his money 
to build a mill or a factory, or a furnace, and develop 
your coal and your ore — bring his money down here 
when you vote every time against his interests, and 



426 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



don't let those that favour them vote at all ? If you 
think so you might just as well be undeceived now, 
for they will not come." 

Here was a practical politician; one who thor- 
oughly believed in his principles, and who could point 
to evidences in the country to show that for the time 
being at any rate the results which he had predicted 
were being realised. 

He still continued to be popular in the State, 
and was elected to Congress in 1884, in 1886, and in 
1888. 

In the meantime he had been elected delegate-at- 
large from Ohio to the Republican [Nominating Con- 
vention in the interests of his friend Mr. James G. 
Blaine. In 1888 he was again at the Republican 
Convention as a supporter of John Sherman. He 
had a narrow escape on this latter occasion from re- 
ceiving the nomination for President himself. He 
was in luck, however, for had he allowed his name to 
stand at this time he would doubtless have met de- 
feat. There was at this convention a repetition of 
the scenes that occurred when General Garfield re- 
ceived the nomination. He was there in support of 
John Sherman and on ballot after ballot he received 
several votes, but took the matter as a joke until it 
looked as though there was likely to be a stampede 
in his favour. At length he had a majority of the 
votes, and it seemed as if the nomination would be 
his, but he had no desire for it ; he was there in the 
interests of John Sherman and when he saw the 
danger that threatened him — for so he must have 
considered it at that time — he decidedly refused to 
accept the nomination. 

" I am here," he said, " as one of the chosen rep- 
resentatives of my State. I am here by resolution of 



william Mckinley. 



427 



the Republican State Convention, passed without a 
single dissenting vote, commanding me to cast my 
vote for John Sherman for President and to use 
every worthy endeavour for his nomination. I ac- 
cepted the trust because my heart and my judgment 
were in accord with the letter and spirit and purpose 
of that resolution. It has pleased certain delegates 
to cast their votes for me for President. I am not 
insensible to the honour they would do me, but in 
the presence of the duty resting upon me, I cannot 
remain silent with honour. 

" I cannot, consistently with the wish of the State 
whose credentials I bear and which has trusted me; 
I cannot with honourable fidelity to John Sherman; 
I cannot, consistently with my own views of personal 
integrity, consent, or seem to consent, to permit my 
name to be used as a candidate before this conven- 
tion. I would not respect myself if I should find it 
in my heart to do so, or permit to be done, that which 
would ever be ground for any one to suspect that I 
wavered in my loyalty to Ohio or my devotion to 
the chief of her choice and the chief of mine. I do 
not request, I demand, that no delegate who would 
not cast reflection upon me shall cast a ballot for 
me." 

He was to have another such experience as dele- 
gate-at-large to the National Convention of 1892. He 
was even more prominent in his party than when he 
was at the National Convention in 1888, and was ap- 
pointed Permanent Chairman of the Convention. 
He believed General Harrison entitled to another 
term, and worked for his success. Harrison had 
many opponents in the Republican party, and these 
men hoped by bringing forward the name of McKin- 
ley himself to defeat the re-nomination of Harrison. 



428 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



When the roll call was made it was found that Har- 
rison had 535, McKinley 182, Thomas B. Reed 4, 
and Kobert T. Lincoln 1. McKinley promptly left 
the chair moved that the nomination of Harrison he 
made unanimous, and his motion carried. He 
would have been very blind, indeed, had he not seen 
that it was only a matter of time till he should be 
the candidate of his party for the Presidency. 

It is now necessary to go back and look at the 
work he had been doing in Congress. He continued 
to deal there with every question of importance that 
was presented. In 1886 he spoke on arbitration as 
the best means of settling disputes, and in the same 
year made a most vigorous speech on the payment of 
pensions and the surplus in the treasury. His most 
brilliant work, however, was done in his attack on the 
Mills' Tariff Bill, in which were embodied President 
Cleveland's views. His speech on this occasion was 
said by an admiring friend, to be the " most effect- 
ive and eloquent tariff speech ever heard in Con- 
gress." So able was it that it practically became the 
Republican text book in the next campaign and mil- 
lions of copies were distributed throughout the 
Union. On the occasion of his return to Congress 
for the seventh time, he was a candidate for Speak- 
er, but was beaten on the third ballot in the Re- 
publican caucus by Thomas B. Reed. Shortly af- 
ter this Judge Kelley died and he became the Chair- 
man of the Ways and Means Committee. In this 
capacity he made one of the ablest leaders the Repub- 
lican party ever had in the House. 

During the session of 1889-90 he was busy work- 
ing on the great McKinley Tariff Bill, and through 
this and his previous work with regard to the tariff, 
was recognised by the Democrats as a decidedly dan- 



william Mckinley. 



429 



gerous man. A determined effort was made to put 
him out of public life. The Ohio Legislature which 
was strongly Democratic once more gerrymandered 
his district. From the beginning he saw that it 
would be almost impossible to be re-elected, but he 
courageously faced the situation, made one of the 
most determined canvasses of his career, and though 
beaten by 302 votes, greatly pulled down the Demo- 
cratic majority in the district. 

The bill, which he fathered, in the meantime went 
on its course. The committee worked on it from 
December, 1889, till April, 1890. It came up for 
consideration on May 7, and for three days was 
hotly debated. When the vote was taken on this 
important bill it stood, for it 164 Republican votes, 
against it, 141 Democratic votes and 1 Populist. It 
finally passed the Senate on September 30. It had 
called forth speeches by such able men as Carlisle, 
Breckinridge, Mills, etc., and the country was stirred 
up in anticipation. It, however, never had an op- 
portunity to show what it might do, as before it was 
in working operation the elections came, and with the 
success of the Democrats the principles it advocated 
were for the time being set aside. 

Although McKinley was defeated in the Congres- 
sional election of 1890, the defeat only meant greater 
political honour for him. In the following year he 
was nominated by the Republicans by acclamation 
for Governor of the State, and began, on August 1, 
a vigorous campaign. He visited nearly every 
county in the State and made in all 134 speeches. 
He never appeared to greater advantage, and in deal- 
ing with the question nearest his heart, protection, 
did it so eloquently that he won thousands of vo- 
ters. So well did he do his work, that at the election 



430 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



he beat Governor Campbell by a majority of 21,000 
votes. 

During his first term of office he proved himself 
essentially a business governor, giving much atten- 
tion to the financial condition of the State. He was 
as he had ever been, the friend of the toiler, and 
made recommendations for protection to steam and 
electric railroad employees. So well did he hold 
himself in his high office that when the time for 
again electing a Governor for Ohio came round he 
was re-nominated by the Republicans by acclama- 
tion. This was in a time of panic ; the second Cleve- 
land administration had just begun, and the business 
depression throughout the country greatly helped 
him to defeat his Democrat opponent, Hon. L. T. 
Teal. 

In his second campaign for Governor he took his 
stand against free trade and free silver. The con- 
test was not along State lines, but along National 
lines, and the whole country watched with the great- 
est interest the campaign in Ohio. By it the nation 
was able to form a good judgment as to how the 
country would swing at the next general election. 
The successful election of McKinley was the pulse 
beat that told the state of the body politic. He 
was even more successful than in his first campaign 
for Governor, winning with a majority of 80,955 
votes. 

During his second term he continued to work on 
behalf of the labouring classes. He was influential 
in having a State Board of Arbitration established 
in Ohio and in having important legislation brought 
forward " for the better protection of life and limb 
in industrial pursuits." While he was Governor 
there was great distress among the miners of Hock- 



william Mckinley. 



431 



ing Valley. He at once hastened to the relief of 
the starving families, and within twenty-four hours 
after he heard of the distress had a car-load of pro- 
visions on the way to the afflicted district. He was 
governor at a very critical time. Commercial de- 
pression caused numerous strikes, and as a result he 
was forced to have the troops called out no fewer 
than fifteen times. On several occasions efforts were 
made to lynch individuals but Governor McKinley 
by force prevented the mad mobs from doing their 
will. He had declared that " lynchings must not be 
tolerated in Ohio " and he firmly saw that such 
things did not occur. 

During the year 1894, he began, throughout the 
United States, against the Wilson-Gorman Tariff 
Law, a series of addresses which attracted a great 
deal of attention. He spoke for several months 
daily, and is said to have addressed in all fully two 
million people. 

At this time he met with a misfortune. At the 
beginning of his political career he had been helped 
by a banker, Robert L. Walker of Youngstown, Ohio. 
He had paid back all his loans and besides had ac- 
cumulated a snug little fortune of about $20,000. 
This, with his wife's fortune inherited from her 
father of $75,000, placed him in a position to devote 8 
most of his time to his country's welfare. In 1893 
Mr. Walker found himself in somewhat straightened 
circumstances, and desired the Governor to endorse 
his notes. One thing William McKinley had per- 
haps beyond all others, gratitude. He remembered 
the favours done him in his early manhood, and 
promptly endorsed some $15,000 worth of paper. 
He had perfect trust in Mr. Walker, who was Pres- 
dent of the ^National Bank, a savings bank, a stamp- 



432 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



ing mill company, and a stove and range company, 
and had besides an interest in several coal mines in 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and when Mr. Walker came 
to him again requesting him to endorse a number of 
notes for the purpose of taking up the notes which he 
had first endorsed he did so without hesitation. The 
collapse came; Walker was unable to meet his obli- 
gation and the Governor found himself liable for 
nearly $100,000. 

He faced the situation with his usual bravery. 
He and his wife at once made an assignment of their 
property to be used for the benefit of Walker's cred- 
itors. The character of Governor McKinley was so 
well known that the sterling honesty and the integ- 
rity of the man appealed to all hearts in his hour 
of misfortune. A fund was started, but his sense 
of pride kept him from at first accepting the money 
that was sent him. A number of personal friends 
now decided that he must be saved from the drudgery 
of endeavouring to once more build up a fortune. 
He was too useful a man to his party to be allowed to 
retire to private life and the world of commerce. 
He refused this offer, too. However, his friends 
had been wily; the subscriptions were for the most 
part anonymous, and he did not know to whom to 
return the money. It is said that until the time of 
his death with four or five exceptions he never knew 
who contributed to this fund. As a result of this 
generosity all Walker's notes were met, Mrs. Mc- 
Kinley's fortune was left intact, and the Governor 
had his fortune of $20,000 with interest added, re- 
turned to him. 

There is something noteworthy in this. It is rare, 
indeed, in public life that a man is so generously 
treated. For the most part when a man meets with 



william Mckinley. 



433 



a great business reverse the world at large is ready 
to find fault with him for his misfortune. His lack 
of business capacity is held up against him, and if he 
be a politician his misfortune is too often used to 
do him an injury before the country. Why trust a 
man with the affairs of a nation who had proved so 
unwise in his own affairs ? The helping hand given 
to Governor McKinley in his hour of distress is the 
best possible evidence of the noble character of the 
man, and the faith that the people of his own State 
had in him. Such a man despite his business failure 
was not unworthy of the high ofiice of President. 
28 



434 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
president william mckinley (Continued). 

When the election campaign of 1894 opened Gov- 
ernor McKinley was much in evidence as a campaign 
orator. He traveled through the States of Indiana, 
Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Mich- 
igan. Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, West Virginia, ISTew York, ~New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio. He covered in all some 
sixteen thousand miles. He was everywhere wel- 
come and addressed great crowds at railroad sta- 
tions, in public halls, and in the open air. At Chi- 
cago he spoke to over 9,000 people, at St. Louis to 
7,000 ; in Kansas 40,000 assembled, in Topeka 24,000, 
at Omaha, Neb. 12,000, in St. Paul, Minneapolis, 
10,000, in Duluth, 15,000, and in Springfield, Illi- 
nois, 20,000. His tour through the South was in 
some ways the most significant part of his great 
journey. He was received with enthusiasm by the 
Southerners, and it seemed that at length a Re- 
publican capable of healing the wound still left 
open by the great war had arisen. 

When the time came round for nominating can- 
didates for President, William McKinley received 
the nomination of Ohio at the State Convention held 
at Zanesville, May 29, 1895, It was' not until 1896, 



william Mckinley. 



435 



however, that the country at large became excited 
over the Presidential nominations. There were a 
number of very prominent men in the field, men 
with quite as good a career as McKinley, — such men 
as Thomas B. Reed, Levi P. Morton, Matthew Stan- 
ley Quay, and Senator Allison. However the major- 
ity of the States supported McKinley and before the 
St. Louis Convention met it was evident to all that 
he would be the choice of the Republican party. 

At the Convention which opened on June 16, 
1896, Senator J. 1ST. Thurston of Nebraska, stated 
concisely the leading points in the Republican plat- 
form. Most important among them were : u A vigor- 
ous foreign policy; the enforcement of the Monroe 
Doctrine'; a revenue adequate for all governmental 
expenditures and a gradual extinguishment of the na- 
tional debt ; a currency ' as sound as the government 
and as untarnished as its honour/ whose dollars, 
whether of gold, silver or paper, shall have equal 
purchasing and debt paying power with the best dol- 
lars of the civilised world ; a protective tariff which 
protects, coupled with reciprocity which reciprocates, 
securing American markets for American products 
and opening American factories to the free coinage 
of American muscle ; a pension policy just and gen- 
erous to our living heroes and to the widows and 
orphans of their dead comrades; the governmental 
supervision and control of transportation lines and 
rates ; the protection of the people from all unlawful 
combinations and unjust exactions of aggregated 
capital and corporate power; the ex- 
clusion of all whose birth, whose blood, whose condi- 
tions, whose teachings, whose practices, would 
menace the permanency of free institutions, endanger 
the safety of American society or lessen the oppor- 



436 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tunities of American labour ; the abolition of section- 
alism — every star in the flag shining for the honour 
and welfare and happiness of every commonwealth 
and of all the people. 7 ' 

On the following day the proposed platform was 
read by Senator Foraker of Ohio, its most impor- 
tant clause being : " We are opposed to the free 
coinage of silver, except by international agreement." 

The party was not a unit on this particular plank. 
The western delegates strongly opposed it and Sena- 
tor Teller of Colorado brought in a minority report 
favouring the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
at the ratio of 16 to 1. There were 105 votes cast in 
favour of this report, but the 818 against it showed 
very conclusively where the Republican party stood 
on the money question. Senator Teller and some 
twenty irreconcilables withdrew from the conven- 
tion on the defeat of their report on the silver ques- 
tion. 

After the platform had been adopted Senator W. 
B. Allison, the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, and Governor 
Levi P. Morton were all placed in nomination for the 
Presidency. There was considerable enthusiasm 
over each candidate, but it was evident that the com- 
vention was waiting for one name, and it was not 
until Joseph B. Foraker, of Ohio, nominated Wil- 
liam McKinley that the enthusiasm reached its 
height. On mention of his name the wild scenes of 
rejoicing which seem utterly incomprehensible in 
a body of men composed of many of the ablest busi- 
ness men and scholars in the Union took place. This 
nomination was seconded by Senator Thurston whose 
closing words very well show why McKinley was 
nominated and why he was afterwards elected. 

(< On behalf of those stalwart workmen, and all the 



william Mckinley. 



437 



vast army of American toilers; that their employ- 
ment may be certain, their wages just, their dollars 
the best in the civilised world ; on behalf of that dis- 
mantled chimney, and the deserted factory at its 
base ; that the furnaces may once more flame, the 
mighty wheels revolve, the whistles scream, the 
anvils ring, the spindles hum ; on behalf of the thou- 
sand cottages round about, and all the humble homes 
of this broad land; that comfort and contentment 
may again abide, the firesides glow, the women sing, 
the children laugh ; yes, and on behalf of the Amer- 
ican flag and all it stands for and represents; for 
the honour of every stripe, for the glory of every 
star; that its power may fill the earth and its splen- 
dour span the sky, I ask the nomination of that loyal 
American, that Christian gentleman, soldier, states- 
man, patriot, William McKinley." 

While these words are the commonplace of 
rhetoric, it was their substance that made McKin- 
ley's election a foregone conclusion. He received 
the nomination by 661 1-2 votes out of 922. 

The Democratic National Convention met in 
Chicago, July 7. There was far from being unan- 
imity of opinion at this celebrated meeting. Sen- 
ator Hill and sixteen others endorsed President 
Cleveland's administration and were at one with 
the Republican party on the coinage. Senator Till- 
man, on the other hand, in a very vigorous speech 
condemned the administration, and there were many 
present who agreed with his extravagant language. 
The great issue considered at this convention was the 
coinage and the Democrats conducted their campaign 
practically on this plank of their platform alone. 
" We demand/' they said, " the free and unlimited 
coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ra- 



438 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tio of 16 to 1, without waiting for the aid or consent 
of any other nation. " William Jennings Bryan was 
the most striking figure at the convention; his bril- 
liant oratory, his magnetic personality, his genial 
character, his grip of the great issues from a Dem- 
ocratic point of view, all making it evident that he 
was the most likely man to successfully battle for the 
Presidency. After five ballots he was nominated by 
520 votes out of 930. 

The campaign began at once, the great silver ques- 
tion required to be presented to the country, and 
Bryan made one of the most memorable tours ever 
made by a candidate for the Presidency, speaking 
with power and conviction and making many con- 
verts. His cause, however, from the beginning was 
a hopeless one. The American people were not pre- 
pared to accept the silver platform of the Demo- 
cratic party in the face of the judgment of the best 
thinkers in their own country and the ablest students 
of financial matters in the European world. 

Meanwhile Mr. McKinley retired to his Canton 
home to let the great issues that he advocated and had 
so ably presented in his grand tour in 1894, win his 
election for him, or perhaps it would be truer to say 
to let Marcus A. Hanna keep on pulling the wires 
that were to place him in the White House. He de- 
cided, and rightly, that it was undignified for a man 
nominated for President of a great and self-respect- 
ing nation to go about the country, as it were, begging 
the votes of constituencies, when the people through 
the daily press could form their own judgment on the 
great issues. He was not, however, to escape speech- 
making. If the mountain would not come to Moha- 
met, Mohamet would go to the mountain, and so pil- 
grimages took place to Canton and from the steps of 



william Mckinley. 



439 



his Louse McXinlej daily addressed vast crowds. It 
is said that before the election he spoke to over half 
a million people who came to Canton to hear him 
on the questions of the Republican party. When 
the election took place he heat Bryan by over 600,- 
000 votes, and in the electoral college by 271 against 
176. He was inaugurated on March 4, before one 
of the largest crowds that ever assembled in Wash- 
ington. 

After his inauguration he made known his cab- 
inet. It was composed of the following able and 
experienced politicians : Secretary of State, John 
Sherman, of Ohio; Secretary of the Treasury, Ly- 
man J. Gage, of Illinois ; Secretary of War, Gen- 
eral Russell A. Alger, of Michigan; Attorney-Gen- 
eral, Joseph McKenna, of California ; Postmaster- 
General, James A. Gary, of Maryland; Secretary 
of the Navy, John D. Long, of Massachusetts ; Sec- 
retary of the Interior, Cornelius N. Bliss, of New 
York; Secretary of Agriculture, James Wilson of 
Iowa. There were a number of subsequent changes 
in this Cabinet, William R. Day of Ohio, and John 
Hay, of the District of Columbia succeeded Mr. Sher- 
man; Elihu Root, of New York, General Alger; 
John W. Griggs, of New Jersey, Mr. McKenna; 
Charles Emory Smith, of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gary; 
Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Mr. Bliss. 

When Mr. McKinley became President of the 
United States trade was in a very much depressed 
condition, the tariff bill was considered as largely re- 
sponsible for this, although without doubt the coun- 
try was merely passing through one of these great 
periods of commercial dullness which follow com- 
mercial prosperity just as surely as the valley fol- 
lows the crest of the wave. He had brought forward 



440 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



a bill in 1890 from which he had hoped much. He 
was now placed in power as an advocate of high pro- 
tection, and the country expected that he would lose 
no time in putting in practice his theories, and it 
was not deceived. Two days after his inauguration 
he showed the nation that he intended to begin work 
at once. A proclamation was issued calling for an 
extra session of Congress for March 16. • When the 
Houses met he had read to them a message which 
was intended to pave the way for his radical tariff 
changes as propounded in the Dingley Bill which 
was then in course of preparation. 

In this message he said : " It is conceded that 
its " (the government's) " expenditures are greater 
than its receipts, and that such a condition has ex- 
isted for more than three years. With unlimited 
means at our command, we are presenting the re- 
markable spectacle of increasing our public debt by 
borrowing money to meet the ordinary outlays inci- 
dent upon even an economical and prudent adminis- 
tration of the government. An examination of the 
subject discloses this fact in every detail, and leads 
inevitably to the conclusion that the condition of the 
revenue which allows it is unjustifiable and should* 1 
be corrected. 7 ' 

After going into the situation very carefully and 
showing the deplorable condition of the country's 
trade and finances, he concluded : 

" It may be urged that, even if the revenues of the 
government had been sufficient to meet all its ordi- 
nary expenses during the past three years, the gold 
reserve would still have been insufficient to meet the 
demands upon it, and that bonds would necessarily 
have been issued for its repletion. Be this as it 
may, it is clearly manifest, without denying or af- 



william Mckinley. 



441 



firming the correctness of such a conclusion that the 
debt would have been decreased in at least the 
amount of the deficiency, and business confidence 
immeasurably strengthened throughout the country. 

" Congress should promptly correct the existing 
condition. Ample revenues must be supplied, not 
only for the ordinary expenses of the government, 
but for the prompt payment of liberal pensions and 
the liquidation of the principal and interest of the 
public debt. In raising revenue, duty should be so 
levied upon foreign products as to preserve the home 
market, so far as possible, to our own producers; to 
revive and increase manufacturing, to relieve and en- 
courage agriculture ; to increase our domestic and 
foreign commerce ; to aid and develop mining and 
building, and to render to labour in every field of 
useful occupation the liberal wages and adequate 
rewards to which skill and industry are justly en- 
titled. The necessity of the passage of the tariff 
law which shall provide ample revenue need not be 
further urged. The imperative demand of the hour 
is the prompt enactment of such a measure, and to 
this object I earnestly recommend that Congress 
shall make every endeavour. Before other business 
is transacted let us first provide sufficient revenue to 
faithfully administer the government without the 
contracting of further debt or the continued dis- 
turbances of our finances," 

This message was merely the nreliminarv to the 
introduction of the tariff bill of Nelson Dingley, 
Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. 
Since the Presidential election in November this bill 
had been in preparation, and the President was thus 
enabled to initiate his policv without any loss of 
time. In the celebrated McKinley Tariff bill there 



442 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



had been a reciprocity clause which fell with the 
bill. A similar clause was now brought forward, it 
advocated " that whenever the President of the 
United States, by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, with a view to secure reciprocal for- 
eign trade with foreign countries, shall, within the 
period of two years from and after the passage of 
this act, enter into commercial treaty or treaties with 
any other country or countries concerning the admis- 
sion into any such country or countries of the goods, 
wares and merchandise of the United States, and 
their use and disposition therein, deemed to be for 
the interest of the United States, and in such treaty 
or treaties, in consideration of the advantages accru- 
ing to the United States therefrom, shall provide for 
the reduction during a specified period, not exceed- 
ing five years, of the duties imposed by this Act, 
and to the extent of not more than twenty per centum 
thereof, upon such goods, wares, or merchandise as 
may be designated therein of the country or coun- 
tries with which such treaty or treaties shall be made, 
as in this section provided for; or shall provide for 
the transfer during such period from the dutiable 
list of this Act to the free list thereof of such goods, 
wares, and merchandise, being the natural product 
of such foreign country or countries, and not of the 
United States; or shall provide for the retention 
upon the free list of this Act during a specified pe- 
riod, not exceeding five years, of such goods, wares, 
and merchandise now included in said free list, as 
may be designated therein; and when any such 
treaty shall have been ratified by the Senate and 
approved by Congress, and public proclamation made 
accordingly, then and thereafter the duties which 
shall be collected by the United States upon any of 



william Mckinley. 



443 



the designated goods, wares, and merchandise from 
a foreign country, with which such treaty has been 
made, shall, during the period provided for, be the 
duty specified and provided for in such treaty and 
none other.' 7 

The Dingley Bill on account of the depression in 
trade was much welcomed by nearly all classes in 
the country. The Reciprocity clause, however, met 
with considerable opposition, particularly from those 
interested in the sugar industry. The bill was 
rushed through both Houses, received the signature 
of the President and with its adoption came com- 
mercial prosperity. 

Another great question was almost at once to begin 
agitating the people of the United States. Cuba sit- 
uated at their very door was bleeding with many 
wounds. Spain was endeavouring to rule the island 
with an iron hand. The Spaniard has ever been 
brutal and callous to human suffering and never 
more so than in his dealings with Cuba. In 1895, 
the Cubans willing to sacrifice their lives rather than 
longer endure the state of affairs existing in the 
island, broke out into revolt. For several years the 
struggle had gone on, the insurgents determined not 
to submit and Spain as determined to crush them. 
An idea of the character of this fight can be gathered 
from the examination of the statistics given by the 
Spanish Minister of War. There were sent to Cuba 
between November, 1895, and May, 1896, 181,738 
men, 6,261 officers and 40 generals. The Spanish 
Commander-in-Chief was General Weyler. His 
methods gained for him the name of the " Butcher," 
and aroused the utmost indignation in America. 

The President very wisely did not commit himself 
on this difficult question. He maintained the atti- 



444 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



tude of the previous government with regard to 
filibustering and refused to recognise the Cuban Re- 
public. However, on May 17, he sent a special mes- 
sage to Congress asking aid for the suffering Ameri- 
cans in Cuba, and in his annual message he warned 
Spain that a time might come when it would be 
necessary to interfere in Cuba in the name of human- 
ity. Spain became somewhat alarmed, and pro- 
claimed a measure of self-government, November 23, 
1897. This the Cubans very promptly rejected. 
The formal inauguration of the system took place in 
January, 18 9 8, and trouble began at once with re- 
newed vigour between the insurgents and the Span- 
iards. General Weyler's reconcentration policy 
shocked the American people and stirred in their 
hearts a bitter feeling against Spanish rule in Cuba. 
So intensely were they aroused that the far-seeing 
predicted war at an early date. But President Mc- 
Kinley remained calm. 

About this time a very irritating affair occurred. 
Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish Minister at Washing- 
ton, in a letter criticised the President severely, call- 
ins' him a vacillating and time-serving politician. 
The letter though private came to the light of day, 
and Spain was asked to recall the minister. In the 
meantime De Lome resigned, Spain expressed regret 
at his conduct and sent Senor Polo y Bernabe to 
succeed him. This incident although of a private 
nature helped to increase the irritation between the 
two countries. 

In January riots occurred in Havana and in order 
to protect the many Americans residing there the 
warship " Maine " was despatched to that harbour. 
She was anchored to a buoy assigned by the author- 
ities, and for three weeks she lay there, execrated by 



william Mckinley. 



445 



the Spaniards. On February 15, the famous ex- 
plosion occurred, and two officers and 258 men were 
drowned or killed and 58 wounded. The Spanish 
authorities expressed great regret at the incident, 
but the bulk of the Spanish people, especially those 
in Havana, openly rejoiced at this shocking tragedy. 
Whether the " Maine " was destroyed by accident or 
by design has not yet been definitely settled to the 
satisfaction of the public or naval experts. The 
commission appointed to examine into the wreck by 
the American government decided that she had been 
destroyed by torpedoes, but the Spanish commission 
declared that the explosion was from internal causes. 
The people of the United States had, however, for 
years been irritated by the brutal treatment of the 
Cubans by the Spaniards, and it only needed the de- 
struction of the ' k Maine " to bring them to the point 
of demanding war. While the President did not act 
on the destruction of the " Maine," preparations be- 
gan almost immediately after the tragedy to 
strengthen the forces of the United States and place 
the army and navy on a war basis. On the seventh 
of March two new regiments of artillery were au- 
thorised by Congress, and on the ninth of the month, 
$50,000,000 were voted for national defence. It 
was further resolved to increase the army to 100,000 
men. 

On March 23 General Woodford presented a for- 
mal note to the Spanish Minister giving him warning 
that if an agreement assuring '* permanent, imme- 
diate, and honourable peace " in Cuba were not 
reached within a few days the President would be 
forced to submit the whole question to Congress. 
This was practically a threat that unless Spain acted 
on the suggestions of Congress war would follow. 



446 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



In the meantime the press and the people were 
fiercely clamouring for war. " Remember the 
Maine " was on every lip. The people as a whole 
would not listen to the opinion that the explosion 
was due to accident. It was a bit of Spanish diabo- 
lism, and it was very evident that the heart of the 
nation would know no peace until the Spaniard was 
driven from the American continent. 

In April, Europe began to get nervous, and the 
ambassadors of Great Britain, France, Germany, 
Italy, Austria, Russia, all expressed to the American 
government a hope that peace might be maintained 
and order re-established in Cuba. The President 
joined in the hope, but left the impression on the am- 
bassadors that unless the situation in Cuba radically 
changed the United States would be forced to inter- 
fere. For a few days longer Spain evaded the Presi- 
dent's demands, and, on April 11, the whole matter 
was laid before Congress, with the words : " In the 
name of humanity, in the name of civilisation, in be- 
half of endangered American interests, which gives 
us the right and the duty to speak and to act, the war 
in Cuba must stop." He had here taken high 
grounds ; there was in his message no cry of " Re- 
member the ' Maine.' " 

Two days later the House passed a resolution au- 
thorising the President to intervene for the pacifica- 
tion of Cuba. In a few days a joint resolution was 
passed to the same effect, which was at once approved 
by the Executive. Spain very naturally treated this 
resolution as a declaration of war and in the early 
morning of the 21st sent General Woodford his pass- 
ports before he was able to make the demands of his 
government known to the Spanish government. The 
dismissal of General Woodford was accepted by the 



william Mckinley. 



447 



United States as the initial act of war, and Congress 
on the 25th of the month declared, " that war exists 
and has existed since the twenty-first day of April, 
A. D. 1898, including said day, between the United 
States of America and the Kingdom of Spain." 
Spain took the same grounds, and on April 23, in an 
article spoke of " the state of war now existing be- 
tween Spain and the United States." 

~No war was ever entered upon which aroused 
greater curiosity in the world. On the one hand 
there was a European Power with a standing army 
and what was supposed to be a navy ; on the other 
hand there was a great peace power with but a small 
standing army, and a navy which in the eyes of 
Europe was a most uncertain quantity. However, 
the Powers were forced to recognise that what the 
United States lacked in troops and armaments they 
made up in intelligence. It was over thirty years 
since the government of the United States had been 
compelled to place a large force in the field, but the 
people went into the war with every confidence that 
in a few weeks their brainy mechanics and farmers 
under the splendid officers trained at West Point 
would be in every way equal to the best soldiers in the 
regular armies of the old world, and such proved to 
be the case. 

Before briefly scanning the war it would be well 
to see exactly the grounds on which the President 
and his Congress decided to force Spain to do justice 
to the Cubans or to leave this Continent. The fol- 
lowing are the resolutions which were passed on 
April 18 : 

" Whereas, The abhorrent conditions which have 
existed for more than three years in the Island of 
Cuba so near to our borders, have shocked the moral 



448 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



sense of the people of the United States, have been 
a disgrace to Christian civilisation, culminating as 
they have, in the destruction of the United States 
battle-ship with 266 of its officers and crew, while on 
a friendly visit in the harbour of Havana, and can- 
not longer be endured as has been set forth by the 
President of the United States in his message to 
Congress April 11, 1898, upon which the action of 
Congress was invited ; therefore, 

" Resolved, By the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States of America, in Con- 
gress assembled — 

" First — That the people of the Island of Cuba 
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent. 

" Second — That it is the . duty of the United 
States to demand, and the government of the United 
States does hereby demand, that the government of 
Spain at once relinquish its authority and govern- 
ment in the Island of Cuba and withdraw its land 
and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters. 

" Third — That the President of the United States 
be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use 
the entire land and naval forces of the United States, 
and to call into the actual service of the United States 
the militia of the several States, to such an extent 
as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into 
effect. 

" Fourth — That the United States hereby dis- 
claims any disposition or intention to exercise sover- 
eignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island, ex- 
cept for the pacification thereof, and asserts its de- 
termination when that is completed to leave the gov- 
ernment and control of the island to its people." 

There was no turning back after the President 
signed these resolutions. 



william Mckinley. 



449 



Cuba was at once blockaded by an American fleet 
and the war was carried into the East by a despatch 
to Commodore Dewey on the coast of China. It was 
a brief despatch. " Capture or destroy the Spanish 
squadron at Manila. 77 Across seven hundred mile3 
of ocean the intrepid admiral rushed his ships, and, 
as the world knows, carried out his instructions to 
the letter without the loss of a soldier or sailor. The 
battle of Manila Harbour made the world realise 
that the ships of the American navy were equal to 
the best in the world, and that the American gunners 
could shoot straight. 

The war was now carried to Porto Rico and to 
Cuba. There was, however, a good deal of delay 
until the end of June. The European press and the 
press of the United States kept deriding the gov- 
ernment for its slowness of action. But when the 
large equipment that had to be got together and the 
number of men who had to be provided for and trans- 
ported is considered, the wonder is that the work 
was done so thoroughly and with such swiftness. 

Towards the end of May it was known that Ad- 
miral Cervera had succeeded in entering Santiago 
Harbour with a Spanish fleet and Admiral Schley at 
once proceeded to that part of Cuba and blockaded 
the harbour. It was not, however, until the first of 
July that the climax of the struggle was reached. 
It was then that the battle of El Caney and San 
Juan took place and the Spaniards were forced 
within the city. This fight was the only one in which 
the United States troops suffered severely. Cervera 
saw how hopeless it would be to keep the Americans 
out of Santiago, and so determined to steal out of the 
harbour. The passage had been made difficult by the 
heroic conduct of Lieutenant Hobson in sinking the 
29 



450 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Merrimac in the narrow channel, but on July 3, the 
attempt was made. Out of the harbour he stole only 
to have his entire fleet suffer the same fate which 
had befallen the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. 

The war was not over, however, and it was not 
until the 17th of the month that the United States 
troops took possession of Santiago. Before the end 
of the month General Miles had possession of Porto 
Rico where the American army was hailed by the 
people as a delivering host and not as enemies. 

When Santiago fell Spain saw how hopeless it 
would be to continue the struggle, and on the 26th 
of July, Jules Cambon the French Ambassador at 
Washington was requested to enquire if peace nego- 
tiations might be begun. President McKinley was 
anxious that the war should be brought to a speedy 
close and, on the 30th, replied to the note stating 
the preliminary questions that the United States gov- 
ernment would insist upon as a basis of negotiations. 
On August 12, Secretary Day and Ambassador 
Cambon signed the protocol of agreement of which 
the following were the main points : 

1. " That Spain will relinquish all claim of sov- 
ereignty over and title to Cuba. 

2. " That Porto Rico and other Spanish islands 
in the West Indies, and an island in the Ladrones, to 
be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the 
latter. 

3. " That the United States will occupy and hold 
the city, bay, and harbour of Manila, pending the 
conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine 
the control, disposition, and government of the 
Philippines. 

4. " That Cuba, Porto Rico, and other Spanish 
Islands in the West Indies shall be immediately 



william Mckinley. 



451 



evacuated, and that commissioners to be appointed 
within ten days, shall, within thirty days from the 
signing of the protocol, meet at Havana and San 
Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details 
of the evacuation. 

5. u That the United States and Spain will each 
appoint not more than five commissioners to negotiate 
and conclude a treaty of peace. The commissioners 
are to meet at Paris not later than October 1st. 

6. " On the signing of the protocol, hostilities 
will be suspended and notice to that eifect be given as 
soon as possible by each government to the com- 
mander of its military and naval forces. " 

At once hostilities were stopped in Cuba and Porto 
Rico but unfortunately, as the cable from Hong 
Kong to Manila had been cut, news of the signing of 
the protocol did not reach General Merritt and Ad- 
miral Dewey until after the land battle of Manila 
had been fought. 

The difficulty between Spain and the United 
States was now rapidly brought to a conclusion. Ac- 
cording to agreement the commissioners of the two 
Powers met in Paris and continued their negotiations 
until December 10, when the treaty was signed. By 
it Spain relinquished her sovereignty over and title 
to Cuba ; she gave up all her other possessions in the 
West Indies and Guan in the Ladrones group ; she 
likewise ceded the Philippines to the United States, 
on condition that the latter would pay Spain $20,- 
000,000 within three months after the exchange of 
ratifications of the treaty ; Spanish soldiers were to 
be transported from Cuba and the Philippines at the 
expense of the United States. In due time this 
treaty went through the usual processes and became 
law. 



452 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



Scarcely, however, had the war with Spain ceased 
when the United States found herself with a some- 
what more embarrassing struggle on her hands. 
While the inhabitants of the Philippines were anx- 
ious to get rid of Spain, they were not anxious to be 
ruled by any other civilised power, and so took up 
arms against the invading troops. However, as they 
were utterly unfit for self-government no considera- 
tion could be given to their demands. And so a 
long and expensive war, expensive both in treasure 
and lives, has continued in these islands up to the 
present time. 

The President was most anxious that the situation 
should be thoroughly sifted, and in order to get an 
opinion that would be unbiased and above reproach 
he appointed, in January, a commission consisting 
of Admiral Dewey, General Otis, President J. G. 
Schurmann of Cornell University, Professor Dean C. 
Worcester, of the University of Michigan, and Colo- 
nel Charles Denby, for many years U. S. Minister to 
China to examine into the situation. It was found 
impossible to consider for a moment handing the 
government over to the Filipinoes, and the war con- 
tinued. 

During President McKinley's first term several 
other weighty questions presented themselves. For 
years the matter of annexing Hawaii had been under 
consideration, and now that the United States' in- 
terests had extended to Asia the need of a station 
in the Pacific was realised, and with the assistance 
of the government in Hawaii annexation was rapidly 
consummated, and in 1900 Hawaii was made a Terri- 
tory of the United States with a voice in its govern- 
ment. 

Complications likewise arose in the Islands of 



william Mckinley. 



453 



Samoa. In 1898, King Malietoa died and the in- 
habitants broke into two parties, one supporting Ma- 
taafa, and the other young Malietoa. For ten years 
Germany, Great Britain and the United States had 
exercised joint control over the Islands. Between 
the contending natives and the greedy European 
powers President McKinley had no easy task. But 
from a diplomatic point of view the critical situation 
occurred at a happy moment. England was about 
to enter upon the great South African war, and 
she was ready to make concessions to both Germany 
and the United States ; no doubt her action with re- 
gard to Samoa at this time did not a little to keep the 
German government neutral when the mass of the 
people were execrating England for her interference 
in the Transvaal. At any rate, among them the 
Powers abolished kingship in Samoa, and England 
retired from the islands in view of compensation 
made by Germany in other quarters, and both Ger- 
many and England renounced in favour of the 
United States all their claims to the islands east of 
171°, including Tutuila with the harbour of Pago- 
Pago. 

Thus it will be seen that through the annexation of 
Hawaii, through the conquest of Spain in the Philip- 
pines, and through her action with regard to Samoa, 
the United States was entering rapidly upon an im- 
perial career from which it would be impossible for 
her to withdraw, and which would force the w T orld 
to consider the Monroe Doctrine in a new light. If 
the United States could hold possessions in the East 
had she any right to keep the European Powers from 
interfering in American affairs ? Whether she had 
or not the government of the United States still stood 
by the Monroe Doctrine, and they had, and the 



454 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



world knew that they had, the strength to make their 
contention good. 

Before the end of the term still another great oc- 
casion was to demand the wisdom of the President. 
In the summer of 1900 the foreign legations at 
Pekin, China, were besieged by the " Boxers/' and 
into this struggle the United States was drawn, and 
her troops fought gallantly shoulder to shoulder with 
the troops of Russia, Germany, France, England, 
and Japan. When the " Boxers " were at length put 
down, President McKinley acted as a great moral 
force in preventing excessive demands on the part of 
what might not be unjustly termed the predatory 
Powers of Europe. 

When the first Presidential term of William Mc- 
Kinley is examined it must be evident to the most 
careless observer that the last President of the cen- 
tury had to consider more far reaching matters than 
any other President of the century, and that in no 
situation was his judgment at fault. He never acted 
in haste ; he weighed every matter calmly and dis- 
played the greatest possible wisdom in selecting his 
advisers. In making appointments on commissions, 
for example, he seemed to be able to sink party 
prejudice and endeavoured to select men of known 
worth and ability. As a result his whole presi- 
dential term is without anything that could reflect 
on his moral character. 



william Mckinley. 



455 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

PRESIDENT WIEEIAM MCKINLEY (Concluded). 

When the National Republican Convention met in 
Philadelphia, on June 19, 1900, there was no doubt 
as to who would be nominated for President. 
William McKinley had served his country well 
in times of many difficulties, he had grown in 
the estimation of the nation, his hands were clean, 
no word during his entire term had been uttered 
against his personal character, and, as has ever been 
the custom when the President has served his country 
faithfully and well, the Republicans had decided to 
renominate him for the Presidency. Apart from 
this there were other reasons why it was fitting that 
he should continue in the White House. Great ques- 
tions had arisen during the last four years, the nation 
had just passed through a trying and costly war, and 
there was still much to be done to clear up the situa- 
tion occasioned by this war. What should be done 
with Cuba had yet to be considered, and the course 
to be followed in the Philippines had not been fully 
and finally decided upon. It would have been as 
unwise to allow President McKinley to retire into 
private life in 1900, as it would have been to have 
rejected the renomination of Abraham Lincoln in 
1864, when the great Civil war was still unfinished. 



456 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



The two great questions that were at this time 
agitating the nation were the Trusts and the Imperial 
Policy of the United States. The government had 
firmly decided to keep faith with Cuba and to grant 
the island independence. It was otherwise with the 
Philippines. They were not fit for independence. 
It would be necessary first to go through the slow 
process of civilising them. 

The question of imperialism and the great trade 
question were really the only things agitating the 
nation at this time. The silver issue which, had 
played such an important part in the previous Presi- 
dential campaign was on this occasion more or less 
of a side issue. 

The temporary chairman of the Philadelphia Con- 
vention, Senator Wolcott, admirably stated the posi- 
tion of his country when he said : " Our way is new, 
but it is dark. In the readjustment of world condi- 
tions, where we must take our place with the other 
great nations of the earth, we shall move with cau- 
tion, but not with fear. We seek only to lift up men 
to better things, to bless and not to destroy. The 
fathers of the Republic accepted with courage such 
responsibility as devolved upon them. The same 
heavens bend over us, and the same power that 
shielded them will guard and protect us, for what we 
seek is to build still more firmly, always upon founda- 
tions of probity and virtue, the glorious edifice of the 
Republic," 

Vague as these words are they very adequately 
state the position of the United States at the begin- 
ning of the twentieth century. Her way is truly 
new, and it is dark ; but of one thing mankind can be 
assured that from the high state of civilisation she 
herself has attained, she is in a fitter condition than 



william Mckinley. 



457 



any of the other Powers to take up " the white man's 
burden," to extend her imperial sway, and to civilise 
and Christianise the world. It was fitting that at a 
period when she was beginning a new epoch in her 
history a man of integrity, wisdom and power should 
be at her head, a man who had surrounded himself 
with wise councillors. 

The following was the platform of the Republican 
Party as stated in a late life of President McKinley : 

" The party endorsed President McKinley's ad- 
ministration ; asserted its allegiance to the gold 
standard and its steadfast opposition to the free coin- 
age of silver ; condemned conspiracies and combina- 
tions to restrict business ; reaffirmed its policy of 
protection and reciprocity ; declared for more effec- 
tive restriction of immigration of cheap labour ; and 
upheld civil service reform. 

" It declared that there would be no discrimina- 
tion on account of race or colour ; stood for good 
roads, rural free delivery, free homes and reclama- 
tion of arid lands ; favoured Statehood for New Mex- 
ico, Arizona, and Oklahoma ; promised reduction of 
war taxes; declared for an Isthmian Canal and an 
open door in China ; congratulated women on their 
work in camp and hospital ; reaffirmed the Monroe 
Doctrine ; approved the tender of good offices to end 
the war in South Africa ; and promised restoration 
of order and establishment of self-government in the 
Philippines, and independence to Cuba." 

At this Convention there was for a time some little 
doubt about who would receive the nomination for 
the Vice-Presidency ; however, all doubt vanished 
when the name of Theodore Roosevelt, who was at 
once a popular hero and an experienced administra- 
tor, was Drought forward. There was none of the 



458 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 

usual delay in coming to a decision, and there was an 
entire absence of the tedious balloting that had 
marked previous conventions. For the first time in 
the history of the United States, the President and 
Vice-President were nominated on the first ballot. 

Under the guidance of Senator Hanna President 
McKinley decided to adopt the tactics during the 
campaign, which he had adopted four years before, — 
to remain quietly at his home in Canton during the 
heat of the fight. His record was before the nation, 
he was now thoroughly known, and on his record and 
his policy he would stand. Hanna voiced his atti- 
tude when he said at the Convention : " Our appeal, 
and it need not be an appeal — still less a defense — is 
to sober common sense as against visions ; to what is, 
and is satisfactory, as against what may be, and may 
be disastrous; to present prosperity, as against pro- 
bable panic ; to what has been tried and found 
true, as against what is untried and likely to be found 
wanting — in short to the sanity of the nation. " 

It was otherwise with William J. Bryan, the 
nominee of the Democratic party. He was a silver- 
tongued orator ; he knew that his vigorous speech- 
making four years before had won him many votes, 
and so he once more took to the stump. He could not 
altogether drop the Free Silver movement — the West- 
ern influence was too strong for that, — but he concen- 
trated himself on criticising the government's impe- 
rial policy, endeavouring to gain the alien votes by 
championing the cause of the Boers, and particularly 
by blaming the administration for the rapid growth 
of trusts and combines. The nation, however, was 
too sane to reject a tried man and proved, for one 
who was untried and who was guilty of considerable 
extravagance of speech. It listened with a great 



william Mckinley. 



459 



deal of pleasure to his rhetorical harangues, but gave 
a substantial majority at the election to President 
McKinley. The Kepublicans carried twenty-eight 
States with 219 electoral votes, and had besides a fair 
majority of the popular vote. 

President McKinley was to see the nineteenth cen- 
tury out and the twentieth century in. During the 
hundred years which had just passed hig country had 
made greater progress than any other country in the 
world. At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
it had a population of but little over 5,000,000, it 
had now over 76,000,000. It was, as Senator Hoar 
said, " by far the richest country in the world." It was 
richer than any of the great Powers, and there was 
within its borders an intellectual life and activity 
that excelled anything on the European continent, — 
not that its higher educational institutions were su- 
perior to the institutions of Germany and England, 
but the wide diffusion of learning made intellectual 
life general, whereas in Europe, for the most part, it 
was confined to the upper and the well-to-do-classes. 
The outlook for the twentieth century was even 
broader than it had been in the past, and no better 
man could have been selected to open the century 
than William McKinley. He was a great opportu- 
nist, watching the tide of time and going with the 
current. 

Shortly after his inauguration he decided to make 
an extended tour through the nation. His country 
was rich, prosperous and happy, but it was not the 
unit he would like to see it. There was still a wall 
of prejudice existing between Xorth and South, and 
the hope of his life was that he might see this wall 
broken down. During his first term he had seized 
every opportunity to create a snirit of friendship 



460 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



between the North and South. His words on the 
famous battle-field of Antietam are characteristic of 
many of his speeches : 

" Standing here to-day," he said, " one reflection 
only has crowded my mind — the difference between 
this scene and that of thirty-eight years ago. Then 
the men who wore the blue and the men who wore the 
grey greeted each other with shot and shell, and 
visited death upon their respective ranks. We meet, 
after all these intervening years, with but one senti- 
ment — that of loyalty to the government of the 
United States, love of our flag and our free institu- 
tions, and determined, men of the North and men 
of the South, to make any sacrifice for the honour 
and purity, of the American nation. 77 

The war in Cuba and the Philippines had done 
much to bring about a more friendly feeling, but it 
was largely for the purpose of making this feeling 
permanent that the President decided to open his 
second term by an extended tour through the South 
and on to the Pacific. It was a pleasure trip, but a 
pleasure trip in the highest sense of the word, on 
which he set out from Washington on April 29. 
The spirit that animated him is seen in his speech 
delivered at Memphis the day after he left the cap- 
ital. 

" What a mighty, resistless power for good is a na- 
tion of free men ! It makes for peace and prestige, 
for progress and liberty. It conserves the rights of 
the people and strengthens the pillars of the govern- 
ment, and is a fulfilment of that more perfect union 
for which our revolutionary fathers strove, and for 
which the Constitution was made. No citizen of the 
Republic rejoices more than I do at this happy state, 
and none will do more within his sphere to continue 



william Mckinley. 



461 



and strengthen it. Our past has gone into history. 
No brighter one adorns the annals of mankind. Our 
task is for the future. We leave the old century 
behind us, holding on to its achievements and cher- 
ishing its memories, and turn with hope to the new, 
with its opportunities and obligations. These we 
must meet, men of the South, men of the North, with 
high purpose and resolution. Without internal trou- 
bles to distract us or jealousies to disturb our judg- 
ment, we will solve the problems which confront us 
untrammelled by the past, and wisely and coura- 
geously pursue a policy of right and justice in all 
things, making the future, under God, even more 
glorious that the past." 

His journey through the South and to the Pacific 
was a veritable triumph, but it was suddenly brought 
to a termination when the Presidential party reached 
San Francisco by the serious illness of Mrs. McKin- 
ley. For years the President's wife had been an in- 
valid, and one of the finest traits in her husband's 
character was the tenderness with which he had 
waited upon her. Her life was for a time despaired 
of, but fortunately after a somewhat protracted ill- 
ness she recovered. 

In the meantime the President returned to Wash- 
ington to face the great questions that were before 
the country. The Philippine question was less se- 
rious than it had been in 1900, owing to the capture 
of Aguinaldo by General Funston, and the difficulties 
with regard to the reconstruction of Cuba were 
rapidly vanishing. Perhaps the most serious thing 
attracting the President's attention was the rapid 
growth of the trusts. The billion dollar steel trust 
with its far reaching influences could not but make 
the ruler of any country take thought for the future. 



462 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



However, he faced all questions cheerfully ; of one 
thing the nation could be sure he would endeavor to 
do his duty by the people. 

The summer rapidly drew to a close with continued 
and increasing prosperity. The factories were pro- 
ducing for a ready market, the fields were heavy 
with grain, the whole land was rejoicing. The great 
Pan-American Exposition was being held in Buffalo, 
and in September a President's Day was appointed, 
and the President to encourage the enterprise of the 
promoters of the Exposition journeyed to Buffalo, 
and on September 5, delivered what was in many 
respects the greatest speech of his life. His address 
on that day had about it an epigrammatic force, a 
sincerity that is usually lacking in speeches on such 
occasions. It was the utterance of a man with lofty 
ideals, the most Christian ruler that the world has 
yet seen. 

" Expositions," he said, " are the time-keepers of 
progress. They record the world's advancement. 
They stimulate the energy, enterprise and intellect 
of the people and quicken human genius. They go 
into the home. They broaden and brighten the daily 
life of the people. They open mighty store-houses 
of information to the student. Every Exposition, 
great or small, has helped to some onward step. 
Comparison of ideas is always educational, and as 
such instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly 
rivalry follows, which is the spur to industrial im- 
provement, the inspiration to useful invention and 
to high endeavour in all departments of human 
activity. It exacts a study of the wants, comforts, 
and even the whims of the people, and recognises the 
efficacy of high quality and new prices to win their 
favour. The quest for trade is an incentive to men 



william Mckinley. 



463 



of business to devise, invent, improve, and economise 
in the cost of production. Business life, whether 
among ourselves or with other people, is ever a sharp 
struggle for success. It will be none the less so in 
the future. Without competition we would be cling- 
ing to the clumsy and antiquated processes of farm- 
ing and manufacture and the methods of business of 
long ago, and the twentieth would be no further ad- 
vanced than the eighteenth century. But though 
commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies 

we must not be This portion of the earth has 

no cause for humiliation for the part it has performed 
in the march of civilisation. It has not accom- 
plished everything ; far from it. It has simply done 
its best ; and without vanity or boastfulness, and 
recognising the manifold achievements of others, it 
invites the friendly rivalry of all the Powers in the 
peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce, and will co- 
operate with all in advancing the highest and best in- 
terests of humanity. The wisdom and energy of all 
the nations are none too great for the world's work. 
The success of art, science, industry, and invention is 
an international asset, and a common glory. After 
all, how near one to the other is every part of the 
world ! Modern inventions have brought into close 
relation widely separated people and made them bet- 
ter acquainted. Geographic and political divisions 
will continue to exist, but distances have been effaced. 
Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopoli- 
tan. They invade fields which a few years ago were 
impenetrable. The world's products are exchanged 
as never before, and with increasing transportation 
"kv.ilities come increasing knowledge and larger 
trade 

" Isolation is no longer possible or desirable. 



464 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURY. 



The same important news is read, though in different 
languages, the same day in all Christendom. The 
telegraph keeps us advised of what is occurring every- 
where, and the press foreshadows, with more or less 
accuracy, the plans and purposes of the nation 

" At the beginning of the nineteenth century there 
was not a mile of steel railroad on the globe ; now 
there are enough miles to make its circuit many 
times. Then there was not a line of electric tele- 
graph, now we have a vast mileage traversing all 
lands and all seas. God and man have linked the 
nations together. £To nation can longer be indiffer- 
ent to any other. And as we are brought more and 
more in touch with each other, the less occasion is 
there for misunderstandings, and the stronger the 
disposition, when we have differences, to adjust them 
in the court of arbitration, which is the noblest form 
for the settlement of international disputes 

" By sensible trade arrangements which will not 
interrupt our home production, we shall extend the 
outlets for our increasing surplus. A system which 
provides a mutual exchange of commodities, is mani- 
festly essential to the continued and healthful growth 
of our export trade. We must not repose in fancied 
security that we can forever sell everything and buy 
little or nothing. If such a thing were possible, it 
would not be best for us or for those with whom we 
deal. We should take from our customers such of 
their products as we can use without harm to our in- 
dustries and labour. Reciprocity is the natural out- 
growth of our wonderful industrial development 
under the domestic policy now firmly established. . . 

" The period of exclusiveness is past. The ex- 
pansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing 
problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A 



William Mckinley. 



465 



policy of good will and friendly trade relation will 
prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in har- 
mony with the spirit of the times ; measures of re- 
taliation are not 

" Who can tell the new thoughts that have been 
awakening, the ambitions fired, and the high achieve- 
ments that will be wrought through this Exposition ? 
Gentlemen, let us ever remember that our interest 
is in concord, not conflict ; and that our real eminence 
rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. We 
hope that all who are represented here may be moved 
to higher and nobler effort for their own and the 
world's good, and that out of this city may come, not 
only greater commerce and trade for us all, but, more 
essential than these, relations of mutual respect, 
confidence and friendship which will deepen and 
endure. 

" Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously 
vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all 
our neighbours, and like blessings to all the peoples 
and powers of earth." 

As this speech is read it is hard to realise that it 
was uttered by the high priest of protection. It 
would almost seem that the voice of Cobden and 
Bright was speaking through his lips. He was, as 
has already been said, a great opportunist ; up to the 
present he firmly believed that what his country 
needed for its proper development was high protec- 
tion, but as he stood before the crowd at Buffalo on 
the 5th of September, he realised that the time might 
come within his own life when it would be necessary 
to break down all tariff walls. His speech, at any 
rate, was thoroughly cosmopolitan and Christian. It 
was the utterance of no mere politician, but of a great 
statesman who by the exigencies of the past two 



466 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTTJR*. 



years had been forced to take a broader outlook, and 
to consider what place his nation would occupy 
among the nations of the world. Leader he would 
be or nothing ; and to lead properly his policy must be 
based on righteousness and brotherhood. 

This speech created a tremendous sensation and on 
the following day was eagerly read by millions. 

After his address the President took a holiday to 
Niagara to look with pleasure upon that mighty force 
which was driving so many of the mills and factories 
in which he took such pride. After his visit to the 
Falls he returned to Buffalo and in the Music Hall 
held a reception. Never was he happier than on this 
day. It had ever been a pleasure to grasp the hands 
of his fellow-countrymen, and now hundreds lined 
past him to grip the hand of the man they had 
learned to love and reverence. It was in the midst 
of this rejoicing that the dastardly deed which was 
to deprive the United States of its last great Presi- 
dent was perpetrated. In the crowd was one Leon 
Czolgosz, a youthful foreigner whose brain and heart 
had been turned by Anarchist teachings. As the Pre- 
sident was reaching forth his hand to welcome him as 
a citizen of his country he was brutally shot down by 
the assassin. It is unnecessary to dwell on the hor- 
rors of the scene ; no more cowardly and insane mur- 
der was ever committed. There was nothing in the 
President's career that could give the slightest oc- 
casion for such a deed, and the only motive could be 
a desire to strike not the man but the Presidential 
office. 

The heroic character of the President was brought 
forth at this trying moment. He was suffering in- 
tensely from two wounds but his first thought was for 
his wife. He turned to his Secretary Mr. Cortel- 



William Mckinley. 



467 



you, and said, " Be careful about my wife. Do not 
tell her." Then seeing the crowd apparently about 
to tear his assassin to pieces, with his love of law and 
order, and with the dignity of his position before 
him he exclaimed, " Let no one hurt him." 

For eight days he struggled bravely with death, 
and for a time it seemed as if he had conquered, but 
it was only for a time. Despite all that the best 
medical skill in his country could do it was recognised, 
on September 13, that there was no hope. He saw it 
himself and with Christian fortitude faced the in- 
evitable ; almost welcomed it. His dying words will 
be treasured among the dying words of the great 
ones of this earth, and will doubtless help many to 
bravely face death. 

" Good-bye all," he said, " Good-bye ! it is God's 
way. His will be done." 

He lingered on for a few hours and on the morn- 
ing of the 14th passed quietly away. The entire na- 
tion [North and South, East and West, Democrat and 
Republican alike mourned for him, and the world 
mourned with his country. Crowds came to Buffalo 
to view the spot where he had fallen, and as he lay in 
state in Washington thousands flocked to look with 
reverence upon his dead face. The train which bore 
his body from Washington to his home in Ohio began 
its journey through the darkness of night but all 
along the track, at the stations, at the villages, in the 
towns, in the cities, crowds assembled to catch a 
glimpse of the train that bore him to his last resting 
place. But in his Canton home was the chief mourn- 
ing; the greatest son that Ohio had produced had 
been taken from her in his prime. 

Although his life was ended his spirit still worked 
on and is working. When President Roosevelt said 



468 PRESIDENTS OF THE CENTURA. 

on taking the oath of office : " In this hour of deep 
sorrow and terrible national bereavement I wish to 
state that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely 
unbroken the policy of President McKinley, for the 
peace, prosperity, and honour of our beloved coun- 
try," — he uttered no idle words. 

He is dead, but his ideals live on. He began for 
his country the great work of civilising the dark 
places of the earth, and before the twentieth century 
closes the policy that President McKinley adopted in 
dealing with Cuba and the Philippines will doubtless 
be generally adopted by the great Powers. 



INDEX. 



Aberdeen, Lord, 368. 
Adams, Charles Francis, 119. 
Adams, John, 48. 
Adams, John Quincy, 16, 
Akerman, A. T., 242. 
Alabama Claims, settlement of, 238, 
239. 

Alger, General Russell A., 439. 
Allen, Lewis F., 331, 332. 
Allison, Nancy, 407. 
Allison, Senator W. B., 435, 436. 
Altgeld, 377. 

Alvey, Chief Justice, 372. 
Ammen, Admiral Daniel, 183. 
Anderson, Major, 76, 114, 254. 
Andrate, Minister. 372. 
Andrews, Elizabeth, 11. 
Anti-war party, 130. 
Antietam, battle of, 122, 411. 
Appleton, Jane Means, 14. 
Appomattox Court House, surrender 

of Lee at, 137. 
Arnold, Benedict, Grant's comment 

on, 185. 

Arthur, President Chester A., 282, 
305-325 ; his birth and education, 
305, 306 ; becomes interested in 
politics, 307; appointed briga- 
dier-general and later quarter- 
master-general, 308 ; engineer-in- 
chief and inspector-general, 308 ; 
appointed collector of customs 
at the port of New York, 309 ; 
removed from this service, 310 ; 
nominated for vice-presidency, 
311 ; his election, 313 ; elevated 
to presidency on assassination 
of Garfield, 313, 314 ; his inaugu- 
ral address, 315, 316 ; his cabinet, 
317 ; improvements to the navy, 
321 ; improving Mississippi navi- 
gation, 322; postage reforms, 322; 
resumes practice of law, 325 ; his 
death, 325. 

Arthur, Rev. William, 305. 

Asken, Col. John A., 151, 152. 

Atlanta, capture of, 131, 220. 



B. 

Bailey, Dr., 183, 184. 

Ballou, Eliza, 289. 

Bancroft, Frederick, 26. 

Bass, Lyman K., 333. 

Bates, Edward, 114. 

Bayard, Thomas F., 356. 

Beauregard, General Pierre T., 117, 

203, 205, 220. 
Beecher. Henrv Ward. 148, 352. 
Belknap, William W., 242. 
Bell, John, 74, 108. 
Belmont, capture of, 197. 
Bernabe, Senor Polo y, 444. 
Berry, 90. 
Bidwell, 364. 

Big Bethel, battle of, 116. 

Birchard, Sardis, 251. 

Birchard, Sophia, 249, 250. 

Bissell, Wilson S., 333, 364. 

Black, Jeremiah S., 65. 

Blaine, James G., 276, 289. 297, 298, 

300, 325, 350-352, 395, 402, 403, 419. 
Blair, Frank P., 237. 
Blair, Montgomery, 114. 
Bliss, Cornelius N., 439. 
Boone, Daniel, 80. 
Booth, Wilkes, 144. 
Borie, Adolph E., 242. 
Boutwell, George S., 242. 
Bradley, Justice, 279. 
Brady, Judge John R., 314. 
Bragg, General, 213. 
Breckinridge, John C, 74, 108, 157. 
Brewer, Justice David J., 372. 
Brewster, Benjamin H., 317. 
Bristow, Benjamin H., 243, 276. 
Brown, Aaron V., 65. 
Bryan, William Jennings, 377, 438, 

458. 

Buchanan, President James, 4, 18, 
25, 26, 43, 48-75, 156 ; his parent- 
age and birth, 48-50 ; his educa- 
tion, 52 ; commences study of 
law, 52 ; opinion of the War of 
1812, 53 ; enrols as volunteer, 54 ; 
elected to Pennsylvania, House 
of Representatives, 54 ; his en- 

469 



470 



INDEX. 



gagement to Ann C. Coleman, 
54 ; wearies of political life, 54 ; 
elected to Congress, 55 ; suc- 
ceeded John Randolph as Minis- 
ter to Russia, 55 ; Julian Haw- 
thorne's unsympathetic esti- 
mate, 56 ; returns to United 
States, 56 ; elected to Senate, 56 ; 
in Senate under four presidents 

58 ; retires to " Wheatlands," 59 ; 
appointed Minister to England, 

59 ; his return and enthusiastic 
reception, 60 ; gains nomination 
for presidency against strong 
competition, 62 ; his election, 63 ; 
inaugural address, 63, 64 ; reply 
to New Haven Memorial, 67 ; his 
record a brilliant one in interna- 
tional affairs, 71 ; concludes sat- 
isfactory treaty with China, 72 ; 
endeavors to settle Spanish ques- 
tion, 73 ; shows himself weak, 75 ; 
trouble in the South, 76 ; last pub- 
lic appearance, 77 ; his death, 78. 

Buchanan, James, 49, 50. 

Buckland, Ralph P., 252. 

Buckner, General, 201, 202. 

Buell, General, 203, 294, 295. 

Bull Run, battle of, 117. 

Burchard, Dr., 353. 

Burnside, 124. 

Burr, Aaron, 157. 

Burt, Silas W., 311. 

Bush, Sarah, 82. 

Butler, Benjamin F., 122, 351. 

C. 

Calhoun, John C, 9. 
Cambon, Jules, 450. 
Cameron, J. Donald, 243. 
Cameron, Simon, 114. 
Campbell, Governor, 430. 
Campbell, James, 34. 
Carlisle, John G., 364. 
Carlyle, Thomas, 1, 8. 
Carnifex Ferry, battle of, 256. 
Carroll, General S. S., 415. 
Cass, Lewis, 25, 26, 61, 65. 
Castle Pinckney, garrison with- 
drawn from, 76. 
Cauldwell, Zeneas. 14. 
Cedar Creek, battle of, 220, 261. 
Champion's Hill, battle of, 211. 
Chandler, William E., 317. 
Chapultepec, battle of, 24, 190. 
Chase, Salmon P., 107, 113, 114, 169, 

Chattanooga, battle of, 212, 213. 
Chwubusco, battle of, 23. 
CMckamauga, battle of, 212, 296. 
City of Mexico, capture of, 24. 
Civil War, 73-140. 
Clay, Henry, 9, 57, 98. 



Clayton, John M., 57. 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 42, 43, 59, 72. 

Cleveland, Aaron, 327. 

Cleveland, Lewis Frederick, 333. 

Cleveland, President Grover, 7, 326- 
378 ; his birth, 327 ; his school 
life and early training, 329-332 ; 
commences study of law, 332 ; 
appointed assistant district-at- 
torney, 332 ; selected as Demo- 
cratic candidate for office of 
district-attorney, 333 ; elected 
mayor of Buffalo, 334 ; de- 
nounces corrupt methods of con- 
ducting business, 335 ; nomi- 
nated by Democrats for office of 
governor of New York State, 340- 
342 ; his election, 342 ; unani- 
mously nominated for presi- 
dency, 350 ; his election, 353 ; his 
inaugural address, 354-356 ; his 
cabinet, 356 ; his marriage, 358 ; 
vetoes many pension bills, 358 ; 
visits the South and West, 
358 ; utterance on tariff ques- 
tion, 359 ; defeated for presi- 
dency by General Harrison, 362- 
364 ; again successful for presi- 
dential honors, 364 ; his cabinet, 
364 ; deals with Cuban trouble, 
366, 367 ; Venezuelan boundary 
question, 367-372 ; succeeds iff 
having the Sherman Act re- 
pealed, 374 ; loses nomination 
for presidency to William J. 
Bryan, 377. 

Cleveland, Moses, 328. 

Cleveland, Richard Cecil, 333. 

Cleveland, Richard Falley, 328. 

Cleveland, William, 327,329, 330. 

Cobb, Howell, 65. 

Cold Harbour, repulse at, 129, 219. 

Coleman, Ann C, 54. 

Collins, Justice, 372. 

Confederate States formed, 109. 

Conkling, Roscoe, 247, 276, 299, 300, 

Contreras, battle of, 23, 24. 
Conway, Moncure D., 253. 
Corinth, battle of, 207-209. 
Cornell, Alonzo B., 282. 
Cortelyou, Secretary, 466, 467. 
Corwin, Minister, 133. 
Coudert, Frederick R., 372. 
Covode Committee, 73. 
Cox, Jacob D., 242. 
Crampton, 42. 
Creswell, John A., 242, 243. 
Crittenden Compromise, 76. 
Cromwell, 179. 
Crook, General, 261, 263. 
Culver, Erastus D., 306. 
Curtis, George William, 352. 
Cushing, Caleb, 34. 
Czolgosz, Leon, 466. 



INDEX. 



471 



D. 

Davis, Jefferson, 34, 37, 77, 109, 137, 
213. 

Davis, Judge, 279. 
Day, William R., 439. 
Delano, Columbus, 243. 
Denby, Colonel Charles, 452. 
Dennison, Governor William, 114, 

150. 257, 294. 
Dent, Colonel, 188. 
Dent, Julia, 188, 189, 192. 
Depew. Chauncey M., 395. 
Devens, Charles, 281. 
Dewey, Admiral, 449, 452. 
Dimmock, Mrs. Mary Scott Lord, 

405. 

Diugley, Nelson, 441. 
Dobbin, James C, 34. 
Dole, President, 366. 
Donelson, Fort, capture of. 120, 198, 
199. 

Douglas, Stephen A., 25, 26,35-37, 41, 

46, 61, 74, 96, 102, 103, 108, 113. 
Duval, General, 414. 

E. 

Early, 220, 261, 262, 263. 
Elgin, Lord, 45. 
Endicott, William, 356. 
Ericsson, 121. 
Evarts, William M., 280. 
Ewing, Thomas, 253. 

F. 

Farragut, Admiral, 121, 122, 216. 
Fessenden, William P., 114. 
Fifteenth Amendment, passage of, 

Fillmore, Millard, 9, 27, 62. 
Finch, Judge Sherman, 251. 
Fish, Hamilton, 242. 
Fishback, W. P., 383. 
Fisher's Hill, battle of, 261. 
Five Forks, battle of, 137. 
Flower, Roswell B. , 340. 
Floyd, General John B., 65, 75. 115 
199-201. ' 
Folger, Charles J., 317, 340. 
Folsom, Miss Frances, 358. 
Folsom, Oscar, 358. 
Foote, Commodore, 200. 
Foraker, Senator Joseph B., 435, 436. 
Forey, General, 120. 
Fourteen Mile Creek, battle of, 211. 
Francis, David R.. 365. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 48. 
Fredericksburg, battle of, 125. 
Freedman's Bureau Bill, 172. 
Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., 317. 
Fremont, General John C, 62, 63, 
123, 130, 253. 



Frye, William P., 276. 
Fugitive Slave Laws, 59. 
Fuller, Chief Justice, 372. 

G. 

Gage, Lyman J., 439. 

Gardner, Horace G., 309. 

Garfield, Abraham, 289, 290. 

Garfield, President James A., 247, 
289-304 ; his birth and parentage, 
289, 290 ; his education, 291, 292 ; 
obtains position as teacher in 
Hiram College, 293 ; commences 
study of law, 293 ; appointed to 
Senate of Ohio, 293 ; his military 
experiences, 294-296; appointed 
brigadier-general, 295 ; chief-of- 
staff and major-general, 296 ; 
elected to Congress, 296; the 
leader of the Repiiblican party 
in the House, 298 ; chosen 
Speaker-elect for Ohio, 298; 
nominated for presidencv and 
elected, 299 ; his cabinet, 300 ; 
his assassination. 300-302. 

Garland, Augustus H., 356. 

Garland, General, 190. 

Gary, James A. , 439. 

Geary, Governor. 65. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 126, 212. 

Gilman, Daniel C, 372. 

Gladstone, 116. 

Glidden, Judge Charles E., 416. 

Granger, General, 295. 

Grant, Frederick, 215. 

Grant, Jesse, 180, 183. 

Grant, Mathew, 178. 

Grant, Noah, 179. 

Grant, Priscilla, 178. 

Grant, Solomon, 179. 

Grant, President Ulysses S., 118, 120, 
121, 127, 129, 138, 173, 284-304, 309 ; 
his parentage, 177-180 ; goes to 
West Point, 180, 181, 183, 184; 
graduated, 187 ; joins Fourth In- 
fantry, 188 ; distinguishes him- 
self in Mexican War, 189, 190 ; 
married to Julia Dent, 192 ; army 
life continues, 192 ; commences 
farming, 193 ; enlists for Civil 
war, 195 ; his rapid promotion, 
196 ; splendid successes, 197-227 ; 
appointed to command of all 
Union armies, 215 ; his meeting 
with Lee and peace concluded, 
222 ; returns to Washington, 224 ; 
reviews troops, 225-227 ; brings 
Mexican trouble to a close, 228 ; 
his stand with regard to Lee, 
229, 230 ; honored by nation. 230 ; 
visits the South, 231 ; appointed 
general of the army of the 



472 



INDEX. 



United States, the title being re- 
vived, 232 ; refuses to go on mis- 
sion to Mexico, 232 ; appointed 
Secretary of State under John- 
son, but resigned, 232, 233, 235 ; 
defends Sheridan, 233, 234; re- 
ceives unanimous nomination of 
Republican convention for presi- 
dency, 235 ; a lover of peace, 236 ; 
elected president, 237 ; recon- 
struction policy approved, 240 ; 
renominated by acclamation, 
240 ; elected, 241 ; his cabinet, 242, 
243 ; vetoes " Inflation Bill," 245 ; 
prosecutes " Whiskey Ring," 
245 ; retires into private life, 246 ; 
pilgrimage around the world, 
246, 247 ; writes his memoirs, 248 ; 
his death, 248. 

Granville, Lord, 368. 

Greeley, Horace, 122, 240, 241. 

Greeley, Lieut., 323. 

Green, John R., 1, 2, 53. 

Greenleaf, Professor, 252. 

Gresham, Walter Q., 317, 364. 

Griffin, 222. 

Griggs, John W., 439. 

Guiteau, 300, 301. 

Guthrie, James, 34. 

H. 

Halleck, General, 202, 207, 208, 212. 

Hamer, Thomas, L., 180. 

Hampton Roads Conference, 133. 

Hancock, General, 299. 

Hanks, Nancy, 81. 

Hanna, Marcus A., 438, 458. 

Harmon, Judson, 364. 

Harrison, President Benjamin, 362- 
364, 379-405 ; his parentage and 
birth, 379-382 ; his youth and ed- 
ucation, 382-384 ; his marriage, 
384 ; commences study of law, 
384; first political experiences, 
385; responds to Lincoln's call 
for troops and enlists, 386 ; pro- 
moted to be colonel, 387 ; first 
engagements, 387, 388 ; elected 
reporter of Indiana Supreme 
Court, 390 ; nominated by Re- 
publicans for governorship of 
Indiana, but defeated, 392, 393 ; 
appointed a member of Missis- 
sippi River Commission, 393 ; re- 
fuses place in the Garfield Cabi- 
SSi ' a PP° int ed to Senate, 
<>y4; nominated for presidency, 
395 ; his election, 399 ; defeated 
in candidature for second term, 
402 ; momentous questions dealt 
with, 400-404 ; appointed counsel 
in Anglo-Venezuelan Boundary 
Arbitration Commission, 405 ; 
his death, 405. 



Harrison, Benjamin, sr., 381. 
Harrison, Charles, 381. 
Harrison, John Scott, 382. 
Harrison, Major-general Thomas, 

Harrison, William Henry, 9, 58, 382. 

Hart, Judge, 253. 

Hartley, David, 48. 

Hartranft, John F., 276. 

Hattan, Frank, 317. 

Hawthorne, Julian, 56. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 14. 

Hay, John, 439. 

Hayes, George, 249. 

Hayes, Rutherford, 249-251. 

Hayes, President Rutherford B., 246, 
249-288 ; his parentage, 249-251 ; 
his early life and education, 251, 
252 ; commences study of law, 
252 : his marriage, 253 ; ap- 
pointed city solicitor for Cincin- 
natti, takes an interest in politi- 
cal affairs, 253 ; enlists for the 
war and is appointed major, 255 ; 
rapid promotion follows good 
services, 255, 256 ; appointed col- 
onel, 257 : acting brigadier-gen- 
eral, 258 ; assists in capture of 
John Morgan, 258, 259 ; rewarded 
for gallant service, 263 ; returns 
to his home, 263, 264 ; his politi- 
cal career commences, 265 ; 
elected to House of Representa- 
tives, 266; his attitude towards 
the South, 266-271; censures 
President Johnson, 270, 271 ; se- 
lected as Republican candidate 
for governor, 271 ; a vigorous 
campaign, 272 ; his election, 272 ; 
defeated for Congress, 272; 
elected governor, 274 ; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 276 ; deter- 
mines upon civil service reform, 
277 ; elected president, 278, 279 ; 
inaugural address, 279, 280; his 
cabinet, 280, 281 ; withdraws 
troops from South, 281 ; efforts 
at civil service reform, 282, 283 ; 
vetoes Chinese immigration bill, 
285, 286 ; retires to his Fremont 
home, 287. 

Henderson, Colonel Thomas, 151. 

Hendrick, Anna, 11. 

Henry. Fort, capture of, 120. 

Herbert, Hilary A., 364. 

Herndon, Ellen Lewis, 325. 

Herndon, William H., 85, 95. 

Herndon, Commander William 
Lewis, 325. 

Herschell, Lord, 372. 

Hiester, Governor, 50. 

Hill, Senator, 437. 

Hill, D. B., 354. 

Hitchcock, Ethan Allen, 439. 



Hoar, Senator, 459. 
Hoar, E. Rockwood, 242. 
Hobson, General, 260. 
Hooper, General, 125, 389. 
Hopkins, Mark, 293. 
Hopkins, 52. 
Howe, Timothy O., 317. 
Hunt, William H, 300. 
Hunter, General, 123. 

I. 

lies, Elijah, 89. 
Inflation Bill vetoed, 245. 
Irwin, Elizabeth, 382. 
Iuka, battle of, 209. 

J. 

Jaekson, battle of, 211. 
Jackson, General, 9, 16, 17, 58, 126. 
James, Thomas L., 300. 
Jay, John, 48. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 157. 
Jewell, Marshall, 243. 
Johnston,General Albert Sidney, 202, 
203. 

Johnson, President Andrew, 130, 149- 
176, 229, 232, 270 ; notified of his 
accession to office of president, 
149, 150 ; his birth and youth, 151, 
152 ; his marriage, 152 ; chosen 
alderman for Grenville, 153 ; 
elected mayor, 153 ; enters polit- 
ical life, 153 ; interest in educa- 
tional matters resulted in his 
being appointed a trustee of 
Rhea Academy, 153 ; elected to 
State Legislature, 154 ; sent to 
State Senate, 154 ; elected to 
Lower House, 154, 155 ; elected 
to governorship, 155 ; elected to 
Senate, 156 ; appointed military 
governor of the state, 164 ; or- 
ganizes provisional government, 
164, 165 ; chosen candidate for 
vice-presidency, 166 ; sworn in 
as president on assassination of 
Lincoln, 169 ; his differences with 
Congress, 171, 172 ; resolution 
for his impeachment, 173; ac- 
quittal, 175 ; returns home, again 
elected to Senate, 175 ; his death, 
176. 

Johnston,General Joseph E., 171, 217, 
225. 

K. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 34-42. 
Kent, Senator, 75, 76. 
Kelley, Judge, 428. 
Kelly, Rachel, 180. 
Key, David M., 280. 



473 



King, William R., 26. 
Kirkwood, Samuel J., 300. 



L. 

Lamar, Lucius Q. C, 356. 

Lamont, Daniel S., 364. 

Lanborn, Leslie L., 418. 

Lee, General Robert E., 118, 122, 129, 

134, 142, 170, 190, 217, 221, 222, 223, 

229. 

Lemmon, Jonathan, 306. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 80. 

Lincoln, President Abraham, 6,7, 68, 
77, 7D-148, 149, 154, 157, 166, 177, 
210, 211, 217, 224, 253 ; his parent- 
age, ?9-82 ; his youth, 82 ; trip 
down the Mississippi, 87 ; mili- 
tary experience in the Black 
Hawk war, 88 ; elected to Legis- 
lature, 90 ; again elected in 1836, 
92 ; extravagant legislation, 93 ; 
resolutions on subject of domes- 
tic slavery, 94 ; elected to Legis- 
lature, 96 ; resumes practice of 
law, 97 ; married to Mary Todd, 
97 ; nominated for Congress, and 
elected, 98 ; joint meetings with 
Stephen A. Douglas, 102, 103 ; 
nominated for presidency by Re- 
publican convention in Chicago, 
107 ; elected president, 108 ; se- 
cession of Southern States and 
formation of Confederate States 
of America, 109 ; farewell to 
Springfield, 109 ; inauguration, 
112 ; his cabinet, 113, 114 ; Civil 
war breaks out and Fort Sumter 
surrenders, 115 ; call issued for 
men, 115 ; early Northern re- 
verses, 116, 117 ; complications 
with European powers averted, 
119, 120 ; issues proclamation de- 
claring slaves to be freed. 124 ; 
refuses Louis Napoleon's offer to 
mediate, 125 ; dedicated burial 
ground at Gettysburg, renomi- 
nated for the presidency, 130; 
successes of Northern troops, 
131 ; elected president, 131 ; ef- 
forts to bring about peace, 132 ; 
second inaugural address, 134- 
136 ; war terminates, 137 ; his 
last great speech. 137-141 ; his as- 
sassination, 141-146 ; his funeral, 
146. 

Lincoln, John, 80. 
Lincoln, Robert T., 300, 317, 428. 
Lincoln, Thomas, 80-82. 
Logan, Stephen P., 95. 
Lome, Dupuy de, 444. 
Long, John D., 439. 



Mc 



MacVeagh, Wayne, 300. 

McCardle, Eliza, 152. 

McClellan, General George B., 118, 
121, 122, 124, 130. 

McClelland, Robert, 84. 

McCrary, George W., 280. 

McCulloch, Hugh, 150, 317. 

McDowell, General Irwin, 117. 

McKenna, Joseph, 439. 

McKinley, David, 407. 

McKinley, James, 407. 

McKinley, Mrs., 461. 

McKinley, President William, 7, 255*, 
363, 395, 406-468; his birth and 
parentage, 407, 408 ; his training, 
408 ; enlists as volunteer, 409 ; 
his military experience, 409-415 ; 
appoi nted com missary -sergeant , 
410 ; first lieutenant, 413 ; cap- 
tain, 414 ; brevet-major, 415 ; 
commences study of law, 416 ; 
elected district attorney, 416 ; 
his marriage, 417 ; elected mem- 
ber of Congress, 418 : his career 
there, 420 ; his utterance on the 
money question, 421-423 ; his 
views on the tariff, 423, 424 ; re- 
fuses nomination for presidency, 
426, 427; defeated in Congres- 
sional election of 1890, 429; 
elected governor of the state, 
429, 430 ; takes stand against free 
trade and free silver, 430 ; ad- 
versity in business, 431, 432; re- 
ceives nomination for presi- 
dency, 434-437 ; opposed by Wil- 
liam J. Bryan, 437, 438 ; his in- 
augural address, 440, 441 ; Ding- 
ley Bill introduced, 441-443 ; the 
Cuban trouble, 443 ; destruction 
of the " Maine," 445 ; Spanish- 
American war declared, 447 ; 
progress of the war, 449, 450; 
peace arranged, 450, 451 ; Sa- 
moan trouble, 453 ; nominated 
for second term and elected, 458, 
459; his visit to the Pan-Ameri- 
can Exposition at Buffalo and 
speech there, 462-465 ; his assas- 
sination, 466, 467. 

McKinley, William, sr., 407. 

McViccar, Deacon, 329. 



M. 



Manning, Daniel, 341, 356. 
Marcy, William L., 25, 26, 34, 45. 
Marshall, General Humphrey, 294, 

Mason," John G., 43, 119. 



INDEX. 



Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, 

133, 228. 
Meade, General, 126, 219. 
" Merrimac," the, 121. 
Merritt, Edwin A., 310. 
Mexican War, the, 21-24. 
Middle Creek, battle of, 295. 
Miles, General, 450. 
Missionary Ridge, battle of, 127. 
Missouri Compromise, 33. 
Mobile, fall of, 224, 225. 
Molino del Rey, battle of, 24, 190. 
" Monitor," the, 121. 
Monroe Doctrine, 42, 59. 
Monroe Fortress, conflict at, 132. 
Monterey, attack on, 190. 
Morgan, Edwin D., 308, 317. 
Morgan, John, 258-260. 
Morrill, Lot M„ 243. 
Morton, J. Sterling, 364. 
Morton, Governor Levi P., 395, 435, 

436. 

Morton, Governor Oliver P., 276, 383, 
386. 

Moultrie, garrison withdrawn from, 



N. 

Napoleon, Louis, 120, 126. 
Neal, Anne, 328. 
Nelson, General, 203, 204. 
New Haven Memorial, 66. 
New Orleans entered, 122. 
Noyes, General, 276. 

O. 

Offut, Denton, 88. 
Olney, Richard, 364, 369, 370. 
Opequan, battle of, 261, 262. 
Ord, General, 222. 
Orth, Godlove S., 392. 
" Ostend Letter," 43. 
Otis, General, 452. 
Owens, Mary S., 91. 

P. 

Paducah, occupation of, 197. 
Paine, Judge Elijah, 306. 
Palo Alto, battle of, 190. 
Panama Canal, 318. 
Parker, Hon. Edward. 15. 
Pauncefote, Sir Julian, 372. 
Peach Tree Creek, battle of, 388, 389. 
Pemberton, General John C, 209 
210, 212. 

Petersburg, capture of, 137, 220, 221. 

Phillips, Wendell, 122. 

Pierce, Benjamin, 10, 13. 

Pierce, President Franklin, 4, 10-47, 

59 ; new era commences, 2, 4 ; 

commercial progress, 6 ; his ad* 



INDEX. 



475 



ministration, 9 ; becomes presi- 
dent, 10 ; his birth, 12 ; his train- 
ing, 13 ; commences study of 
law, 15 ; elected to Legislature 
and chosen Speaker, 16 ; elected 
to Congress, 17 ; elected to Sen- 
ate, 18 ; opposed to anti-slavery, 
19 ; resigns from Senate, 20 ; 
appointed district-attorney by 
President Polk, 21 ; in Mexican 
War, 22-24 ; chosen candidate for 
presidency by Democratic con- 
vention, 25; his election, 28; 
Buchanan's opinion, 28, 29 ; his 
inauguration and address, 32, 33 ; 
his cabinet, 34 ; initial move- 
ments of Civil war, 35, 36 ; signs 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 36 ; in- 
sists on recall of British Minis- 
ter, 42 ; reciprocity treaty with 
Canada, 45 ; retires, 46 ; his 
death, 47. 

Pierce-Scott campaign, 4. 

Pierrepont, Edwards, 243. 

Pillow, General, 199. 

Piatt, Senator, 313. 

Polk, President James K., 9, 21, 22, 
59, 155. 

Porter, Admiral David D., 210. 
Port Gibson, battle of, 211. 
Powell, alias Payne, 143. 
Price, General, 209. 
Princeton, capture of, 256. 



Quay, Mathew Stanley, 435. 



Randolph, John, 55. 
Rathbone, Major Henry R., 145. 
Rawlins, John A., 242. 
Raymond, battle of, 211. 
Reciprocity treaty with Canada, 45. 
Reed, Thomas B., 428, 435, 436. 
Reeder, Andrew H., 37, 40. 
Resaca de la Palma, battle of, 190. 
Richardson, William M., 243. 
Richmond, evacuation of, 137, 221. 
"River Queen," Federal ship, 133. 
Robertson. William H., 300, 313. 
Robeson, George M., 242. 
Rockwell, Mrs. Susannah, 178. 
Roosevelt, President Theodore, 348, 

457, 467, 468. 
Root, Elihu, 439. 

Rosecrans, General William S., 209, 

212, 255, 296, 409. 
Ross, General, 53, 
Routledge, Miss Anne, 91. 
Rudolph, Miss Lucretia, 291 . 
Russell, Joshua, 49. 



" San Jacinto,' 1 sloop, 119. 

San Juan question, settlement of, 

238, 239. 
Santa Anna, General, 23. 
Santo Domingo, proposal to annex 

rejected, 237. 
Savannah, capture of, 221. 
Saxton, Miss Ida, 417. 
Scammon, General, 255. 259. 
Schlev, Admiral, 323, 449. 
Schofield, John M., 242. 
Schomburgk, Sir Robert, 367. 
Schurmann, J. G., 452. 
Schurz, Carl, 281. 
Scott, Carolina L., 384. 
Scott, Dr. John Witherspoon, 384. 
Scott, General Winfield, 2, 22, 27-30, 

76, 111, 186, 187. 
Seward, Hon. William H., 26, 101, 107, 

113, 132. 143, 144, 150. 
Seymour, Horatio. 237, 308. 
Shackelford, General, 260. 
Shelby, 151, 152. 
Sheldon, General, 295. 
Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan's suc- 
cess in, 131. 
Sheridan, General Phil, 213, 217, 219, 

222, 228, 233, 234, 202, 263. 
Sherman, General John. 206, 208, 211, 

213, 225, 232, 280, 289, 395, 426, 427, 

439 

Shiloh,' battle of, 234-237. 
Simpson, Hannah, 181. 
Slidell, John, 62. 
Slocum, General B., 340. 
Smith, Caleb B., 114. 
Smith, Charles Emory, 439. 
Smith, General, 195. 
Smith, Goldwin, 27, 126. 
Smith, Hoke, 364, 385. 
Smoot, J.. 92. 
Soule, Pierre, 43. 

South Mountain, battle of, 256, 410. 
South Carolina, secession of, 76. 
Spanish-American War, 447-451. 
Sparrow, Thomas, 252. 
Speed, James, 114, 150. 
Speer, Elizabeth, 49. 
Spottsylvania, battle of. 129, 218, 219. 
Squatter Sovereignty, 102. 
St. John, John P., 351. 
Stanton, Hon. Edwin M., 114, 173, 232, 
233, 389. 

" Star of the West," fired upon, 76. 

Stewart, Alexander T., 242. 

Stoddard, W. O., 146. 

Stone, Melvina, 305. 

Story, Judge, 252. 

Stuart, John T., 95. 

Sullivan, General, 13. 

Sumner, Charles, 240. 

Sumpter, Fort, surrender of, 115. 

Swing, Prof. David, 383. 



476 + xxvi. = 502 



INDEX. 



T. 

Taney, Chief Justice, 112. 

Taylor, General Zachary, 9, 59, 189. 

Teller, Henry M., 317. 

Teal, Hon. L. T., 430. 

Tenure of Office Bill, 172. 

The Big Black, battle of, 211. 

"The Long Nine," 93. 

The Wilderness, battles of, 129, 218. 

Thomas, General George H., 296. 

Thomas, Lorenzo, 173. 

Thompson, Col. Jeff, 197. 

Thompson, Jacob, 65. 

Thompson, Richard W., 280. 

Thurston, Senator J. M., 435. 

Tilden, Samuel J., 277-279. 

Tillman, Senator, 437. 

Todd, Mary, 97. 

Toft, Alphonso, 243. 

Tom, John, 49. 

Toucey, Isaac, 65. 

Townsend, Hon. Ingram, 330. 

" Trent," steamship, 119. 

Turpee, Hon. David, 394. 

Tyler, John, 58. 

Tyner, James M., 243. 

U. 



Usher, John P., 114, 159. 

V. 

Valencia, General, 23. 
Vallandigham, 15, 16. 
Van Buren, Martin, 9, 58, 154. 
Vanderpool, J. K., 333. 
Van Dorn, General, 209. 



Vicksburg, fall of, 126, 209-212. 
Vilas, William F., 356. 

W. 

Waite, Chief -Justice, 314. 

Walker, R. J., 65. 

Walker, Robert L., 431, 432. 

Wallace, General, 204. 

Wallace, William, 385. 

Washburne, Hon. Elihu B., 196, 242. 

Washington, capture of, 53. 

Washington, George, 177. 

Weaver, General James B., 364, 403. 

Webb, Dr. James, 253. 

Webb, Miss Lucy W., 253. 

Webster-Ashburton treaty, 58. 

Webster, Daniel, 9, 27, 57. 

Welles, Gideon, 114, 150. 

Weyler, General, 443, 444. 

" Whiskey Ring " prosecuted, 245. 

White, Andrew D., 372. 

Whitman, Walt, 117, 147. 

Whitney, William C, 356. 

Wilkes, Captain, 119. 

Wilkins, Senator, 56. 

Williams, George H., 243. 

Wilson, James, 439. 

Wilson, William L., 364, 875. 

Winchester, battle of, 220, 261. 

Windom, Secretary William, 300, 317. 

Wise, 62. 

Wolcott, Senator, 456. 
Woodbury, Hon. Levi, 15. 
Woodford, General, 445, 446. 
Worcester, Prof. Dean C, 452. 

Y. 

Yates, Governor, 195. 



LBJl?9 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2010 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 



